The hell hole we call school
by Al bhed Princess
Summary: The FFx2 cast are back and at school! What happens? Read to find out...YunaTidus, RikkuGippal and PaineBaralai, possible LeblancNooj. Updated with chapter 10!
1. last day of freedom

**A/N Ahem. A non-randomness fic. But I shall have one soon, I am working on one, but I have ran out of randomness. OH MY GOD!!!!!!! Well anyway, this is a humor but non-randomness, as I said. Anyway, this is like a prologue.**

**Disclamier: **No! I'll never admit it! Ok, I will. I don't own Final Fantsay x2 (Hard as I try), and I don't own Koda Kumi's song color of my soul. **:(**

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Yuna, Paine, Tidus and Baralai sat in the park, enjoying their last day of freedom before school. Leblanc was supposed to come out and meet them, but they hadn't seen her yet. Tidus and Baralai were bouncing a basketball around. Yuna wasn't into sports much. But she knew Tidus loved them. He'd play with his old man, Jecht, more nowadays, because Jecht was getting help for his drinking problem. He said things were going much better at home, and Jecht was acting more like a real dad. Yuna was happy for him. But he visited her less now. They lived across the street from each other, and whenever Jecht was drunk he would come over to her house. Yuna had a small, itty-bitty crush on Tidus. Ok, she had the biggest crush on him ever. But that's a secret she'd take to her grave. Paine was flicking through one of Yuna's magazine she'd brought, about the perfect outfit and makeup combinations. And it didn't look like she was impressed. Paine lived with her older sister Lulu, and Lulu's boyfriend Wakka. Their parents had died along time ago. Paine didn't mind living with Lulu and Wakka. She said they were just like parents themselves. Baralai lived with his grandpa, a really religious guy, who used to be a vicar, and his older Brother, Nooj. Nooj was one year older than all of them, but he was friendly. Yuna thought he and Leblanc made a cute couple. Yuna lived with her guardian Lenne, and her cat, Kimahri. Her father Braska lived in a whole other country, because of his work, so he left her with a good friend. Lenne. Yuna loved living with Lenne because she was like a really good pal, or a sister even. She could always count on Lenne for girl's stuff too. Yuna picked up a magazine with tips on how to make your hair perfect. At the end of next week was a huge party, and everyone who was anyone was going to be there. That was why they had the magazines.

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Leblanc sat in the car, filing her nails. New makeup and a new dress for the party. Her mother had helped her find the best dress. It was sure to get all eyes on her. "Mother, I have to be at the park now."

"My, my Leblanc. Where are your manners?" Leblanc rolled her eyes. She looked out the window and spotted her friends. They saw her and waved. She waved back. Her mother unlocked the door for her and she climbed out. She said goodbye to her mum, and walked across the where Yuna and Paine were flicking through a couple of magazines. "Not like you to look through magazines Paine. What gives?"

"I'm helping Yuna."

"And she's not doing a good job. She keeps choosing black things."

"What's wrong with black?"

"Blacks not my colour!"

"Maybe you should go for white Yuna. It looks good on you." Yuna looked at Leblanc. Her idea of style and Leblanc's were _very _different. "No Rikku?"

"Nah, she's probably with Gippal. I'm going over his later tonight." Baralai told them. Yuna nodded. "I might see you then. I'm going over to Rikku's. Just quick." Baralai smiled.

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Rikku looked over at Brother. "Happy that Yuna's coming over?" Brother jumped at the magic name. _Yyyyuuunnnaaa_! He smiled a huge smile, remembering Yuna. "You do realise she's your cousin sicko?"

"It matters not! Nothing matters in the name of love!"

"What you talking about boy? You're too young to be in love."

"Especially with your cousin!"

"What?! Ok son. I think its time we had the talk."

"Father! I do not need to know about sex!"

"I think you might if you like Yuna in that way. I'll get the book."

"FATHER!!!" Rikku walked off sniggering. She turned back at shouted to Cid, "Pops? Is it ok if I go to Gippal's?" Cid grunted, and Rikku took this as a yes. She walked out and grabbed a half-eaten chocolate bar on the counter. "I hope you haven't taken my chocolate bar!"

"Of course not Brother!"

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Gippal turned the music up a lot louder when Nhadala started shouting at him. Yelling something about switching her shampoo with shaving cream. "Don't be so paranoid sis. Like I'd ever do a prank that old! I'm all about originality!"

"Gippal I swear, come near my stuff again and I'll rip your head off and mail it to your girlfriend!"

"Nad, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Stop calling me Nad!"

"You know you like it! And I still don't have a girlfriend."

"Sure you do. That blonde one, always coming over, you walk to school with her. what's her name? Ri-"

"-Gippal! Rikku's here!" their mom shouted up. Nhadala smirked at him. "See. I'll mail it to her."

"You don't have to mail it very far, we live next door. Idiot." Nhadala stormed out of the room. Rikku came bouncing in. "I can't stay of very long, Yunie's coming over, just saying hello. Isn't it horrible that we have to go back to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah school sucks don't it? Baralai's coming over in a bit. You two could come round if ya want."

"That could be fun."

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Yuna looked at Rikku's CD collection. It wasn't that good. Rikku was talking to Gippal and Baralai, but Yuna didn't want to. She was kinda upset that Rikku had invited those two to come round. After they went to Gippal's, Yuna was hoping they could talk just the two, but Rikku didn't seem to want to. She looked around the room. She saw Brother out in the garden. It looked like he was staring at her. She decided to say hi. "I'm just gonna see Brother." Rikku raised her eyebrows. "He'll love that." Yuna frowned, but Rikku carried on talking to Gippal.

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"Hey Brother."

"Y-Yuna! Uh, um, hello!" He was acting weird. He looked up at her and blushed. He tried to hide the photo of her he was holding. "What's that?"

"Uh, nothing, nothing. Just rubbish."

"Oh. How are you?"

"Err, good! Very good!"

"Me too. Hey, are you sure you're alright? You look kinda red."

"I do?! I'm fine, fine! Just a bit hot!" Yuna nodded. She sat down and crossed her legs next to him. "Are you making a daisy chain?"

"What? Yes. No! Err...I made it for you?"

"Oh, thank you! That's so sweet!" Brother grinned at her, madly. She held out her wrist and he put it on for her. Rikku appeared at the back door. "Hey Yunie! We're going to walk around a bit, ya coming?" Oh god, anything but that, she thought. She pretended to look at her watch. "Err, that sounds great, but it's time I went home. Got things to do and all."

"Oh ok. Do you need pops to give ya a lift back?"

"Nah, I'll take the bus." Yuna got up and said goodbye to Brother, who looked very disappointed to see her go.

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Yuna came home and saw Lenne watching Eastenders (Erlack! Worst soap ever!). She rolled her eyes. "So, who died this time?"

"Oh Yuna! They don't die every episode!" Yuna raised her eyebrows. "Ok, Jamie died."

"That's sad. I'm going to my room. Do you mind if I play my music?"

"As long as you don't disturb the old bat next door." Yuna nodded and walked upstairs. She opened her door and saw her cat Kimahri asleep on her bed. She picked him up and walked over to her stereo. She put on colour of my soul (I love that song!) by Koda Kumi, and twirled around the room with Kimahri. He didn't seem to like it that much. "Ok little fella, do ya wanna go outside? No eating people's flowers though!" Kimahri must be the only cat who eats other people's flowers. She opened her window and he climbed out. She picked up her hairbrush and sang into it, like it was a microphone. Her Japanese wasn't that good though (It's not in this story ok?) so it was kinda hard to keep up. She stared doing a dance. She was a good dancer, but she never let anyone see her. Lenne could hear her from upstairs and went to see what she was doing. She smiled as she saw Yuna. She picked up a comb and joined Yuna. They danced and sang together for ages. It was 10:13 when they stopped. Yuna collapsed on her bed. Lenne looked at her watch. "You'd better get to sleep. You've got school tomorrow."

"Ugh, don't remind me. Can I stay up a bit longer?"

"Ok, but I'm going to bed now. You're not the only one who has to go to school." Yuna grinned. "You're a teacher though."

"So? I still need my beauty sleep. Night Yuna."

"Night." Yuna watched her go, then went to her wardrobe. She'd need to get the perfect outfit for tomorrow. She looked through everything. She chose a white T-shirt with a blue butterfly, a denim skirt and long stripy socks. Then she pulled on her pink and white jammies and cleaned her teeth. She went over to her bed and put on her lamp. She pulled up a book and read it for a while. When she finally turned off her lamp and went to sleep it was 12:06. "Oops. A bit late."

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A/N Well, that's the prologue thingy! Hope you enjoyed it! Review please! No flames. Any flames and I'll use them to light a cigarette which I'll stick up your butt. Just kidding! I wouldn't be as mean as to do that! –shifty eyes-


	2. First day back

A/N Ok, the first proper chapter. On with the story!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Nothing. It's so sad!

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A flying book woke Yuna up. "Aaaahhh! Lenne! What was that for!" Lenne smiled innocently at her. "Waking you up of course! It's the first day back a school." Yuna groaned. "I want you up in five minutes, dressed in ten."

"Does that include makeup?"

"Yes." Yuna sighed. She'd have to do her makeup on the bus. She climbed out of bed, saying goodbye to her week off. She walked off to the bathroom to clean her teeth and wash her face. If she cleaned her teeth before she got dressed her breakfast might taste normal for once. She picked up her toothbrush and caught sight of her hair in the mirror. "Oh God...hairspray!"

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Lenne looked at Yuna. "White T-shirt, like the butterfly on it, denim skirt and long socks. Nice. What happened to your hair?"

"Lenne, you do nothing to boost my self-esteem. I think you must be a very bad motivational speaker. Is that why you're a teacher?"

"No, miss, I am a teacher because I get great satisfaction from helping the talented sing."

"Why only the talented?"

"Because the untalented give me a headache worse than you. Would you like a lift to school?"

"Do I give you a headache? No, but thanks, I'm gonna take the bus." Lenne shrugged and passed her a bowl of Cheerios. Yuna happily spooned in mouthfuls. "I don't know why you're so happy. Cheerios depress me." Lenne said, looking at the ingredients. She tutted. "Too healthy. You need chocolate if you ask me." Kimahri jumped into Yuna's lap and lapped up her left over milk. Yuna hated milk. "Why don't you give me chocolate then?"

"Your father doesn't approve of chocolate for breakfast, so you get Cheerios. Kimahri get off the table!"

"But he likes it up there! Don't you puss?" Lenne rolled her eyes. She looked at the clock. "You should be moving Yuna, if you don't want to miss the bus."

"No time for cartoons?"

"Serves you right for waking up so late." Sighing, Yuna walked to the hall to pick up her school bag. Lenne grabbed her keys. She shooed Yuna out of the house. "Did you remember to put food down for Kimahri?" Lenne looked back at the door, thinking. "Yes. And if he starves to death in case I didn't, we'll blame you."

"The unfairness of adults."

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Yuna scrambled on the bus and smiled at the bus driver. She held out her ticket. He took it, pretended to check it and smiled back. Yuna had a special deal with the bus driver. If he didn't mind being shown the same ticket from three years ago, she wouldn't let Kimahri eat his flowers. And because the bus driver lived across the road, Kimahri ate his flowers a lot. Yuna looked at the seats and saw Paine saving one for her. She smiled at her, but as usual Paine just nodded. But that was about as friendly as Paine got. Yuna dropped down next to her and shuffled around in her bag for a little bit of lipgloss and eyeliner. "No Leblanc today?" Paine shrugged. "She's probably skipping it."

"No, she doesn't skip now that Auron's our teacher." A small smile crept across Paine's face. "Do you think Auron's noticed about her _secret_ crush on him?"

"I don't see how he can't."

"But somehow he doesn't. How's it going ladies?" Yuna smiled at Tidus, in the seat in front. Baralai poked his head round the chair. "Hey Paine, Yuna. Have a nice holiday?"

"Mine was fine. Sleeping, eating, watching TV, sleeping..."

"I was talking to the girls, Tidus. I already know about yours." Yuna giggled. Paine rolled her eyes. Yuna spotted Dona and Bartello up front, in their love/hate relationship. Bartello was the love, Dona was the hate. She was ignoring him as usual, and he was begging her to talk to him. As usual. Yuna thought how lucky Dona was to have a boy grovelling at her feet. "Yuna?" She wished she did. "Yo, Yuna!" Well, maybe not like that, because it looked like it was really annoying Dona and– "Earth to Yuna?" Yuna blinked. "Huh? What?"

"We've been saying your name for a while. Daydreaming or something?" Yuna smiled at Tidus. Come to think of it, that's a boy she wouldn't mind grovelling at her feet...

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Yuna walked in the classroom, following Paine, Baralai and Tidus. She took her normal seat in front of Tidus and Baralai, and next to Paine. Rikku and Gippal would be here soon. They walked to school together. Leblanc was still no where to be seen. Yuna guessed it wasn't worth saving her seat, so she put her feet up on it. Auron wasn't there yet anyway. Paine was talking to Baralai and Tidus. Yuna went through her bag to find a notebook. She flipped through it to find her history homework. Paine looked over her shoulder to see. "Oh that. I didn't do that homework."

"But that's the one lesson with Auron. You know what he's like with homework." Paine shrugged. "I'll just get a detention. Big deal." Yuna shook her head. Paine didn't care about school, but Yuna wanted to get good grades. She hated detention. Well, she'd never had one before, but she knew she'd hate it. She sighed and looked back at the questions, and the answers she'd given. She didn't notice Tidus looking at it. "Oh is that the answer to number 7? I thought it was something different." Yuna blushed. "I might not be right..."

"You usually are. Oh well!" He said cheerfully. She put her notebook back in her bag. History wasn't till fourth period anyway. Unless of course Auron decided to check this morning... Yuna thoughtfully bit her lip, worried about Paine's grades. Rikku and Gippal appeared at the doorway. Rikku made her way to sit next to Paine. Gippal went and sat next to Tidus and Baralai. Rikku grinned at Yuna who was still a bit peeved at her from last night. But she forced a smile back anyway. "Hi everyone! How was your holiday Rikku?"

"Oh fine Leb-"

"-Rikku, Leblanc, stop talking please." Rikku frowned and leaned back in her chair, and Leblanc fluttered her eyelashes at Auron. "Of course sir! Sorry sir!" Paine made a face at Yuna who was trying to stifle her laughter. "Hmm. Yes. Ok class, as I do the register I want you to show me your homework."

"But history's not till fourth period Auron." Auron stared at Tidus. "I know, but it saves me doing it then." Everyone groaned and reached into their bags. Everyone except Paine and Leblanc. Leblanc pulled out a bottle of nail varnish and painted her nails instead. When he came to Leblanc he waited patiently. But she just answered yes t her name. He raised his eyebrows. "Anything to show me?"

"Hmm? Oh. I left my homework at home." She smiled at him. "Well then, you can come back at lunch to do it, and while you're there, it might be a good idea to do your nails, because you're not doing them now." Leblanc smiled at him again and dropped the bottle in her tiny bag. She gazed at him. Yuna heard someone cough "Desperate!" behind her. Everybody knew about Leblanc's crush on him. Except him.

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Paine and Leblanc both had detention. Neither of them seemed to care. Leblanc actually seemed excited. As they walked to maths, Yuna asked them about it. "Well, it gives me time to spend with Auron. If only you weren't there, Paine." Paine rolled her eyes. Yuna would have to count how many times a day she did that. Maybe she could beat twenty... "What about you Paine?" She shrugged. "Detention's detention. No big deal. Happens all the time."

"Yeah but...I guess you're right."

"Course I am. Now hurry up or you'll be late for maths. We all know how much you hate being late." Yuna wrinkled up her nose. "I hate maths! Elma is so weird!"

"Not as bad as Isaaru with RE"

"We should just be grateful that we got Auron for history instead of Maechen."

"Why? What's wrong with gramps?" Rikku's voice interrupted. Leblanc sighed. "Auron's a hottie and Maechen is...old."

"Uh, Leblanc? Auron's kinda old too..."

"Take that back Yuna! Auron's not old! He's...vintage."

"Vintage is juts another word for old."

"Oh be quite Paine!"

"Girls! You're late!" Elma laughed. Only Elma could laugh when telling people off.

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Yuna walked up to Lenne, who was talking to the sports teacher, Shuyin. "Le-enne?"

"Oh god, what do you want?"

"Lenne, you're not pleased to see me. I take this as an insult." Lenne sighed. Shuyin smiled at Yuna. "I'll go get some coffee. Do you want some?"

"Yeah, please. That would be great." Lenne said. Shuyin looked at Yuna and she realised he was asking her too. "Oh no thanks. I'm fine." He nodded and walked down the hall. "Ok, what do you want?"

"Well...you know those really nice doughnuts they have in the cafeteria?"

"Yes."

"Well...they're really expensive, and I spent most of my money on coke and crisps, so could you lend me some more?" Lenne sighed again and dug about in her pocket and came up with 5 gil, which she gave to Yuna. "Thanks Lenne, you're the greatest."

"I know I am."

"Oh, and just one more thing."

"What's that?" she asked cautiously. "Could I have a TV in my room?"

"No."

"Fine. How about a DVD player?"

"We've got one." Yuna pretended to sigh. "Then could I have a laptop?"

"We have a computer. Nope."

"Well then, I'll just have to settle for a phone..."

"Yuna you always try that, and it never works."

"But everyone else has one!"

"Well...maybe for your 15th birthday." Yuna jumped back, surprised. Her 15th was in two months. "Really!" Lenne nodded. Yuna hugged her.

"Lenne, you're the best person in the whole world! I love you!"

"Yeah, yeah, just go get your doughnut." Yuna grinned at her, and ran off.

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History was especially boring that day, but Yuna couldn't have cared less. Now that Lenne had said she could get a phone, nothing could ruin her day. Apart from... "Clear you desks of everything but a pen and pencil. As a welcome back, we're going to have a quiz." Ok, that came pretty close, but she was still happy.

"Annoyingly happy." Paine had said. Auron handed out the tests and got glares and several middle fingers when he wasn't looking. Most of them from Gippal. Rikku giggled. Yuna shook her head and Paine rolled her eyes for the fourth or fifth time that day. Gippal turned back to grin at Rikku, who blushed. Paine did Gippal's grin to Yuna, who pretended to blush and hide her cheeks. Rikku noticed and scowled at them.

"You two are so annoying some times!"

"Yeah maybe Rikku, but not half as annoying as you are." Yuna covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing at what Paine had said. Rikku looked at her, hurt. "Yunie!"

"Sorry Rikku..." Leblanc turned round.

"Shut up! Auron's talking!" She turned back, and listened to every word that came out of his mouth like he was a god. Which is how she probably thought of him.

"Ok, you may begin...now."

"Wait sir! I don't get number one!"

"What do you mean?"

"The bit where it says name..."

"Well you just write your name, Tidus."

"...What's a...name?" The whole class cracked up, including Yuna, and Tidus grinned at her.

"If you're through with your clown routine, we have a test to do."

"Yeah I'm almost done..." Leblanc sighed.

"Stop wasting Auron's time Tidus!"

"Oh, sorry Leblanc."

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"Whoa that test was hard!"

"What are you talking about Rikku? That was easy!" History was about the only subject that Tidus could get an A for, apart from sport. So people wouldn't think he was trying or anything, he goofed around extra hard. Yuna always liked that. He made history more interesting.

"Yeah well, not everyone finds history so easy, _Tidus._"

"Oh, I'm sorry Rikku. I forgot you're not good at any subjects you have to use your brain."

"Oi, stop picking on her. That's my job."

"Oh yeah, you're doing a great job of it, Gippal." Gippal shrugged as an answer to Paine.

"Well maybe you're just jealous because you can't Paine."

"What do you mean I can't, Rikku?"

"Well, you don't do it as well as Gippal..." The whole crowd let out an "Ooaoo!" (don't ask me why I spelt it that way). Rikku blushed.

"I didn't mean it like that..."

"Sure you didn't Rikku."

"Tidus you are such a big...meanie!" Rikku stamped her foot and walked off to the cafeteria. The rest of the group followed, laughing. Yuna grabbed a tray and queued up for pizza, when Dona came over and tapped her shoulder.

"Oh, hi Dona."

"Yeah, whatever. Look, I wouldn't usually talk to you...any of you...but I came to ask if you, Rikku, Paine and Leblanc would like to try out to be cheerleaders. We have three spaces left, and the tryouts are on Friday in the sports hall."

"Wow! Really?" Yuna had always wanted to be a cheerleader. Rikku's eyes brightened. Leblanc smiled and tossed her hair.

"Count me out. I wouldn't be seen dead trying out for cheerleading."

"Fine. What about you three?" Yuna looked back at Rikku and Leblanc. They both nodded at her. Rikku looked like her head would snap off if she didn't stop.

"We'd love to!"

"Whatever. The first runner up gets to be the moogle mascot." Yuna bit her lip. She remembered that moogle outfit. So hot. She had got chosen to be the moogle last term, when the other girl was sick for a month. She hoped she wouldn't be a runner up. Dona walked off back to her table. Tidus sneaked up behind Yuna, two chips stuffed up his nose.

"Hiya Yuna!"

"Ugh. Tidus that is disgusting." Paine said.

"I think it's funny!" Yuna laughed. Tidus grabbed a plate of spaghetti over his head.

"Should I?"

"No! Please no!"

"Yeah, go on!" Tidus did as Yuna said and tipped it over his head, then got up on a nearby table and started dancing. Paine and Leblanc hid behind the drink vendor. Everybody laughed. People loved it when Tidus put on a show. Even the teachers were laughing. Tidus pulled Yuna up.

"No!"

"Yeah! Come on Yuna!" Blushing furiously, she got up on the table with him and danced. She was laughing so much she didn't care who saw her. She could see Lenne, out of the corner of her eye, shaking her head and crying with laughter.

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"See ya Rikku!"

"Bye! Come on Gippal!"

"Coming!" The group waved to Rikku and Gippal, and got on the bus. Tidus went and sat next to Yuna, leaving Paine to sit by Baralai, because Leblanc was going somewhere else.

"Where?" Yuna had asked. But Leblanc just tapped the side of her nose.

"She's probably going to get cheerleading tips." They grinned at Paine's remark.

"So, have fun at lunch?"

"You bet! I didn't know you could dance so well Tidus!"

"Well, I try. Hey you know the party? Well, I was wondering, I mean if you don't want that's fine, but I figured it would be cool you know? You know?"

"Tidus, what in the name of chocobo's are you on about?"

"Oh, would you, I don't know, but, well...do ya wanna go with me?" Yuna looked at him, shocked. Then she grinned.

"I'd love to! It'd be great!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Tidus smiled shyly at Yuna. Yuna couldn't believe it. The first boy to ask her out, and it was the one she liked!

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Ok, y'all! That was the second chapter! Now onto the thank you's...

And a thank you to anyone who read this but didn't review it. You never know. Anyway, review please! Thanks for reading! Wow, I did update fast! For me anyways!


	3. A locker, a cigarette and graffiti

A/N I had to boost the rating a little bit. Ooer! It might go to 13. Hahaha! The deadly writer's block is gone! Thanks to the great advice from Tamelia! But because school is just around the corner (hasn't started yet for me), I just want to say THANK GOD MR A. IS GONE!! For those of you don't know, (i.e. any one but Ems and Livie) he is the very evil RE teacher. I'm telling you he can't swear at the class! And his idea of a French accent is to say 'ze' instead of the. _Sacré bleu! _

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Yuna watched as Leblanc frantically tried scrubbing at the stain again.

"Leblanc it's not coming out!"

"It will! It will!"

"Leblanc I wouldn't wear that top ever again. That...brown stuff...smells terrible!"

"You're not helping Rikku!"

"I'm not trying to help. Where are the boys today?"

"Why? Miss your Gippal?"

Rikku spun round to see where that voice had come from. She glared at Synea, an al bhed girl in the year above, who was smoking.

"He's not my Gippal!"

"Oh. So you don't mind if I take him then?"

She blew her smoke at Rikku, who coughed.

"Kad y meva Synea! Mega Ra't ku uid fedr oui!"

(Get a life Synea. Like he'd ever go out with you.)

"E'ja kud suna uv y lryhla dryh oui tu. Fro tuh'd oui ku bmyo uidceta, meddma kenmeac?"

(I've got more of a chance than you do. Why don't you go play outside, little girlies?)

"What's she saying?"

"We take al bhed Leblanc. You should know!"

"Like I concentrate. I mean Rin is such a boring teacher!"

"Oui ysywa sa Leblanc."

(You amaze me Leblanc.)

"What did you say?"

"Never mind. Uh, we should probably go before Rikku gets us shoved in a locker again."

"But I haven't finished washing my top!"

"Do you remember the last locker we were in?"

Leblanc thought back. A year ago Rikku had been fighting with some girl because she had called Brother a retard. A very large girl. With very large friends. Leblanc and Yuna had stood up for Rikku and Brother, and been shoved into a locker. It was hot cramped, and it turned out Rikku was claustrophobic. After a lot of screaming, Buddy eventually found them and he and Brother busted them out. By then Yuna and Leblanc were covered in Rikku's puke.

"Eww. Not something I need to do again. Come on Rikku! We got al bhed next! Your best subject!"

"That's because she is al bhed."

"Crid ib oui dfu E's ypuid du cdynd cusadrehk!"

(Shut up you two I'm about to start something!)

xxx

"You had to say that didn't you?"

"I-I think I'm gonna be sick! I cant breathe!"

"Ur lnyb"

(Oh crap)

"Will you stop talking in al bhed!"

"Well we're missing the lesson! I might as well practise!"

"Yuna, there is a time and a place for everything, and this is not it!"

"Yeah well...was Rikku just sick?!"

"Uh-huh."

"GET US OUT OF HERE!!!!"

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"Hey Brother. Have you seen Rikku anywhere?"

"No I have not. Why? Is she not with you? Is she ok? Is Yuna ok?!"

"I don't know, that's why I asked you if you knew where Rikku was."

"Why don't you check the bathroom? I saw Yuna run in there a while ago."

"Ok, thanks Buddy."

Paine walked off in the direction of the toilets. She pushed open the door and looked around. She didn't see Yuna, Rikku or Leblanc anywhere. She saw a couple of girls in their class they knew quite well. She walked over to them.

"Hey, have you seen Yuna, Leblanc or Rikku?"

"No, I don't think so. At least I haven't. Eww, is someone smoking?"

Synea came out of one the stalls and blew smoke in the girls direction. They squealed and ran out but Paine just raised an eyebrow.

"Fancy one Paine?"

"I don't smoke."

"Too bad. Don't know what you're missing. You were looking for your friends right?"

"Yeah. You seen them?"

Synea dragged on her cigarette and then flicked it out of the way, down a sink.

"Yeah I seen em. That blonde one was getting lippy so I stuffed her and the other two in a locker."

"Great. The last time that happened Rikku puked on them."

Paine had never been stuffed in a locker, because people were either scared of her, or respected her.

"Have fun Paine."

"Whatever."

* * *

"This sucks! My favorite dress! And Rikku goes and barfs on it!"

"Sorry Yunie."

"It'll wash. If Ormi doesn't get his hands on it."

"What's your brother gonna be like when he's older? Do ya think he'll throw your makeup down the toilet?"

"I hope not! I got some expensive stuff!"

"It's hard having brothers."

"At least yours is older. He knows not to charge into your room!"

"Uh, no, he doesn't. It must be easy being an only child like you Yuna."

Yuna shrugged.

"It kinda feels like Lenne's my older sister. Does that help?"

"Nope."

"What do you two talk about then?"

"Well...things. Sometimes we do yoga together."

"Yoga?!"

"Doesn't anyone care about where the boys are?"

"All I care about is that my dress is covered in puke. Let's go to the toilet and wash them."

"What, no thank you for getting you out?"

"Hmph. Took you long enough."

Paine rolled her eyes and followed them along the corridor. Yuna looked at the main entrance to see the boys coming in.

"Where have you guys been?"

They exchanged looks.

"...Somewhere. What happened to you guys?"

"We got stuffed in a locker." Yuna told them.

"Again." Leblanc added darkly.

"Rikku puked on us."

"Again."

They both glared at Rikku.

"I said I was sorry...it wasn't my fault. Leblanc smelt really bad."

"How dare you! Take that back!"

"You did! It was that brown stuff..."

"I'm gonna kill Ormi!"

"Look, can we just go wash them in the sinks please?"

"Great, an hour shivering in our underwear waiting for clothes to get clean. And then we have to wait for them to dry!"

"Hey, I'd like to see that!"

"Gippal you perv!"

* * *

Yuna shivered. She watched Rikku jumping up and down, trying to get warm.

"It was so hot before! What changed?"

"Us getting soaking wet. Thanks to Synea."

"What is it with her? She's like the biggest bitch ever!"

"Ugh, wet bra does not feel nice!"

Yuna suddenly had an idea. She ran under the hand dryer to try and get warm and dry.

"Aaah, much better! Ooh, toasty!"

"Make room for Rikku!"

"And Leblanc!"

* * *

"So where were you all?"

"Uh-uh! We can't tell you! But you'll find out soon enough Paine."

Paine looked at Tidus. He flinched under her stare.

"If it'd anything to do with shaving foam and silly string, count me out."

"What about graffiti?"

"Tidus!"

"Oops! Heheh."

"Graffiti? You're not planning on doing something to the school are you?"

"No way! And we're not doing anything to the teachers cars either!"

Tidus gave them a really obvious wink.

"Nah, were not. But we do have something planned. Look out!"

Paine ducked the yoghurt pot before Baralai had said it. It flew over her head and landed on Bartello's back. He turned round and glared in the direction it came from. Two little kids looked at him.

"RUN!!" he yelled to his friend.

"Well they're gonna have fun."

Gippal said, watching Bartello chase after them. Paine looked at Gippal. She had to ask.

"Is anything going on with you and Rikku?"

"Me and Cid's girl? Apart from harmless flirting?"

"People are talking man."

Gippal looked at Tidus. He smirked.

"Oh yeah? What about you and Yuna?"

Tidus blushed.

"Well...I did ask her to go to the party with me."

"Oh yeah? That'll be fun wont it?"

"Shut it Gippal. Anyway who are you going with?"

"Me? I've had hundreds of offers! That girl in the year above, what's her name? Oh yeah, Synea, asked me today."

"But you were with us today."

Gippal waved is phone under Baralai's nose.

"It's the magic of texting Baralai! You need to get a phone."

"Yeah, it's just you and Yuna who don't have one."

"And Yuna's getting one for her birthday." Paine pointed out.

"Aww man! I'm stuck in the Yevon days! I'll have to ask if I can borrow Nooj's. Not that he'd say yes."

"Older brothers eh?"

"They gotta be better than older sisters! Nhadala's insane. I can't even look at her without her accusing me of something. Like this morning, I was eating breakfast, all innocently, and she comes downstairs and says I switched her body spray with the bug spray! Can you believe that?!"

"Well...did you?"

"Well yeah, but that's not the point is it?"

"Gippal, you are insane."

* * *

Yuna walked into the last lesson of the day, with Rikku behind her. It was music. They had skipped all of their lessons to dry their clothes. and they were still damp. Lenne saw them and raised her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything. They sat down at their desks and Lenne walked to the front.

"Ok, today, as it's your first lesson since before the holidays, we'll take things easy. We'll skip the paper work and get to the singing. But first we're gonna listen to the music."

The class nodded and Lenne walked to the CD player and pressed play. 1000 words, a song Lenne had wrote and sang herself, came on. She walked over to the desk and picked up the lyrics she had photocopied.

"Yuna, Rikku, can you come and hand these out please."

Yuna sighed and pushed her chair back. she stood up and walked across to Lenne, and Rikku followed her. Lenne handed them the sheets then hissed,

"Why are you wet?"

"Don't ask. Just, don't ask."

"I just did Yuna."

Yuna looked at Lenne. Lenne looked at Yuna in a looking-at-you sort of way. Yuna hated that. She turned around and began handing out the words. After she and Rikku had finished, she sat down and Lenne told her to get right back up again.

"Yuna, could you lead us?"

"Sure."

Yuna loved to sing.

"_I know that you're hiding things,  
Using gentle words to shelter me.  
Your words were like a dream.  
But dreams could never fool me,  
Not that easily._

_I acted so distant then,  
Didn't say goodbye before you left.  
But I was listening,  
You'll fight your battles far from me,  
Far too easily._

_"Save your tears 'cause I'll come back."  
I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door,  
But still I swore  
To hide the pain,  
While I turned back the pages_

_Shouting might have been the answer,  
What if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?  
But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart._

_'Cause a thousand words call out through the ages,  
They'll fly to you,  
Even though I can't see,  
I know they're reaching you,  
Suspended on silver wings._

_Oh a thousand words,  
One thousand embraces,  
Will cradle you,  
Making all of your weary days seem far away.  
They'll hold you forever._

_Oh a thousand words (a thousand words),  
Have never been spoken (ohhh yeah),  
They'll fly to you,  
They'll carry you home (carry you home),  
And back into my arms,  
Suspended on silver wings (On silver wings),_

_And a thousand words (ohh),  
Call out through the ages (call through the ages),  
They'll cradle you (oh yeah)  
Turning all of the lonely years to only days (only days),  
They'll hold you forever..."_

"Very good Yuna. Now, I want the whole class to join in..."

* * *

"Wow Yunie, you're such a good singer!"

"Thanks Rikku." she said, blushing.

Yuna and Rikku walked out of the gates together. Yuna saw the bus waiting for her. The bus driver honked his horn. He didn't look happy.

"Oops. I think Kimahri may have eaten his flowers again!"

Rikku laughed.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. If I survive!"

Rikku watched as Yuna walked onto the bus and talked to the bus driver. She shook her head as she watched Yuna talk to him.

"It's not his fault. Sometimes he needs to relive stress. So he eats your flowers. Honestly, you should be flattered that he likes your flowers so much!"

"It's not just my flowers he likes! He likes my cat! He'd better leave her alone, or I'll ask the vet to neuter him!"

"I'm sorry if he likes Belinda so much, but that's no excuse to take away his trouser snake. I think you'll upset him very much. How would you like it if someone cut off your trouser snake because you spent time with your wife! You wouldn't would you? Or is that the reason why...were you raised like that? Are you trouser snakeless?"

Rikku shook her head and walked away. She walked up to the main entrance and waited for Gippal. And as usual, he was late.

"Gippal where are you?! This is so annoying."

"Oh, sorry to keep you waiting Cid's girl. I didn't know you were so keen."

Rikku spun round to face Gippal. She hit him lightly on the arm.

"Shut up Gippal! I have a name you know!"

"Yeah, but it's not a very good one is it?"

"Are you gonna ask a sensible question or what?"

He smirked at her.

"Yeah, I got a 'sensible' question."

"What's that?"

"Wanna go to the party with me?"

* * *

**A/N Another chappie down, another lot of thankyous!**

**kingleby:****** Glad you like it!

**Yunie-star-Tidus-cutie in disguise:** I forgive you. FFVIII is so hard! It's evil! I was on the fourth disk, and had just beaten this big sorceress (I won't spoil it for you) and then my memory card went weird and deleted it all! I've never like FFVIII since then. Apart from Zell. :::Pulls out a sign that says go Zell::: And because the monster killed you, have a cookie. :::Hands over cookie:::

**Tamelia:** I put some Rippalness at the end, and you all have to wait till next chapter for Rikku's reply! And I'd love to take over square together! I'll get the guns. Anyone else wanna come?

**rikkufan**: I updated! Fast enough?

**Rikku-just-in-4-a-sec**: It could happen! Yeah! A fantastic writer? I don't know what to say! Thanks for the compliment! :::hands over another cookie:::

**milkie**: Glad it's funny! Don't we all wish our schooldays could be that fun?

**cheekytriangle**: Yes you must. Repeat after me, 'I will read all of your fics then review them' now keep saying it, until you're brainwashed! Just kidding!

**Paine-171229**: Yes I'm very starnge. I mean strange! Thanks for reviewing!

**shaunamitchell:****** Cool. Cool? Cool!

**Emily:** Yes I do know. I did enjoy your party, and luckily I wasn't hurt by the wall. I missed the door by a mile. It's not every day you run into a wall.

**Hope you enjoyed it and cookie for all! Review please!**


	4. Her first kiss

* * *

A/N Ok, I left you with an evil cliffy last time, hehe, I know. I'm so evil. We're looking at a bit of Yuna/Tidus fluff, and some Rikku/Gippal. Enjoy! Oh, and blitzball and basketball are the sports in Spira. Because I love playing basketball. I'm no good at it, but I love to play it. 

Disclaimer: I only own this chocolate bar.

:Tidus stops eating a chocolate bar:

"Uh, you didn't mean this chocolate bar, did you?"

'_Hello' _people'sthoughts

I haven't really said their ages so; I'd better clear that up.

Yuna 14, soon to be 15. Well, soonish.

Tidus 15

Gippal 15

Paine 15. Even though in the game Yuna's older than her, I figured Paine seems like she should be older.

Baralai Aww, come on! Is everyone 15?

Rikku: Woo! Join the 14 year olds Rikku! She's two months younger than Yuna.

Leblanc: She'll be 15 in...3 weeks. Yeah that'll do.

All done!

* * *

Rikku blinked at him. 

"What did you say?"

"I said, wanna go to the party with me. Not going deaf are you?"

"I'm not deaf!"

Rikku stopped walking.

"Rss. Ev e tet ku fedr oui dryd fuimt cruf Synea..." Rikku muttered under her breath, so he couldn't hear.

(Hmm. If I did go with you that would show Synea)

'_And I do like him. A lot.'_

She tilted her head on one side and looked at him. She narrowed her eyes.

"Why do you suddenly want to go with me?"

"Because tebcdelg, Tidus is going with Yuna, and I'm pretty sure Baralai's asking someone, and I don't wanna go on my own. How lame is that?"

(Tebcdelg dipstick)

"Oui'na ymnayto mysa."

(You're already lame)

Gippal pushed her playfully. She fell back into a nearby bush and screamed.

"Oops. Sorry Cid's girl."

"Gippal you big meanie! I was gonna say yes but now I'm not so sure!"

"Fine, I'll ask Synea instead."

"You dare!"

Gippal poked his head in the bush. He saw Rikku struggling to get up.

"Gah! Thorns! Give me a hand will you?"

Gippal put his hand out to hers and she took it and yanked it back. Gippal fell into the bush on top of her.

"Ow! You're heavy!"

"Well it's your fault!"

* * *

Brother walked with Buddy and Nhadala. He always did. He'd never tell her, but he liked her. A lot. Not as much as Yuna, but enough. He was sure he was in love with Yuna, but if that didn't work out, he'd have Nhadala instead. 

'_She might not like me of course. But I'll always have Yuna. I think '_

As the three walked past a bush, they thought they heard voices coming from it. Brother stopped.

"Is that Rikku?"

"I think so. And that sounds like Gippal."

They looked at each other and then all stuck their heads in the bush to find Gippal on top of Rikku. Brother went insane.

"Gippal! Kad ouin ryhtc uvv so cecdan!"

(Get your hands off my sister)

'_I'll kill him! I swear to god I'll kill him!'_

"Whoa Gippal! I thought there was something going on between you two, but in a bush? On the way back from school?"

"Jeez Nad, is that all you think about? We just fell is all. Nothing sinister."

"He's right Brother. He pushed me!"

"She pulled me!"

"E tuhd fyhd du rayn ed! E's dammehk vydran!"

(I don't want to hear it! I'm telling father!)

"Oh sure, go crying to pops Brother. You're a perv, you think something's happened, just because you find a boy on top of me in a bush."

They all looked at her.

"It made sense in my head ok?"

"Everything makes sense Rikku, until you say it out loud."

"Uh, I got a feeling this is one of those...family things, and I better go. This is uncomfortable."

Brother ignored Buddy. Nhadala nodded.

"Brother, I promise on the grave of dear old Hammy, nothing happened."

"Rikku, your dead hamster means nothing to this. Why are you bringing him up?"

"Because you're a jerk! I know you killed him! You don't find a squashed hamster unless someone trod on it! I know it was you!"

"E druikrd ed fyc y nyd!"

(I thought it was a rat!)

* * *

"Well that was...weird." 

"Ignore Brother. He's just being gross."

"Huh. So, are you gonna answer my question?"

"Question? Oh! Yeah. I'd love to go with you."

"Course you would!"

Rikku punched him on the arm.

"Don't be so cocky! I'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

"Yep. See ya."

Rikku watched him walk up to his house then she put her keys in her door. She opened it and walked inside. She slammed it and leaned back on it.

"Yeeees!"

* * *

"Look, he loves Belinda, and I think we should let their love blossom. Not shut it away. You could make them very sad." 

"I don't care! If there's one thing I don't need, it's kittens!"

"You should calm down then. You know the old saying, 'having kittens'. It can't be good for you."

"_You're_ not good for me! You and that cat are gonna give me a heart attack!"

"You shouldn't joke about that. My great grandfather died of a heart attack."

"Who says I was joking! I'm heading for an early grave!"

"Now you're just exaggerating."

Tidus came up behind Yuna.

"Hey no offence, but could you just drive the bus man? We do wanna get home. And you shouldn't be mean to Yuna."

"You got some mouth boy!"

"It's not as big as yours." Baralai called out.

Paine looked at Baralai with respect. Tidus looked at him in amazement.

"Ugh! You're all being stupid! Now sit down and shut up or I'll throw you off this damn bus!"

"You shouldn't swear at us."

"Out! All of you! Now! Yuna and blondy, that wise ass kid with the blue bandanna,"

Baralai touched his bandanna and frowned.

"And that silver haired girl smirking!"

Paine stopped smiling and glared at him.

"You can't be serious gramps!"

"Aw, just get off the bus so we can go home!"

"No way! He has no right to force them all of the bus!"

"Well actually he does, but that's no excuse to do it!"

"I'm gonna make sure Kimahri eats your flowers now!"

"OFF! And the rest of you can shut your mouths! NOW!"

Paine and Baralai stood up and walked to Yuna and Tidus.

"With the red face and attractive vein popping out of your head, you'll be a hit with the girls." Baralai said to the bus driver.

The group glared at him (the bus driver, not Baralai) and walked off the bus. As soon as Paine was off he closed the door and drove away. They stared after their disappearing ride home and looked at each other.

"What do we do now?"

Yuna bit her lip and thought about Baralai's question.

"Maybe we could stay here all night. You know, camp out."

Paine rolled her eyes at Tidus's suggestion.

"Great. That's just what we want to do."

"Can we do anything else?"

A thought came to Yuna and she was surprised she didn't think of it before.

"Of course we can do something else! The teachers!"

"Uh, what about them?"

"Well they stay after school don't they?"

"Yeah, but they live no where near us!"

"That's where you're wrong. One of us happens to live with a teacher you know?"

"Of course! Lenne!"

"We'd better hurry though. She doesn't stay long!"

The group nodded and Yuna ran back into the school gates. The others followed her. she looked around the car park and spotted Lenne's car.

"Yes! She's still here! Now we just have to wait by the car!"

They ran off again and stopped by the green sporty car. Yuna leaned back against it and Tidus and Baralai slouched down on the floor. Paine looked at the car.

"Are there gonna be enough seats in there?"

"Oh god. I didn't think of that. It's only a three seater!"

"Hey, no problem Yuna! You can sit on my lap."

Yuna smiled and blushed. The thought of sitting on Tidus's lap made her feel tingly and hyper.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?"

"Uh...we missed the bus."

Yuna thought it would be safer to lie. If she told her the truth, Lenne would just speak to the bus driver and say Yuna was being cheeky. Lenne frowned and shrugged.

"Ok, get in, but someone will have to share seats."

"We already got it sorted Lenne!"

Lenne smiled at Tidus. She could see why Yuna liked him so much. She unlocked the doors and Paine and Baralai scrambled into the back. Tidus sat in the front and Yuna happily sat on his lap. He put his arms around her waist and held on tight. Being that close to Tidus made Yuna feel giddy. She couldn't help a grin spread across her face. Lenne noticed.

"Don't try anything Tidus."

"Me? Never! No way!"

"Yeah yeah. I know what you teenagers are like."

"What do you mean? We're polite, kind, helpful..."

"Whiny, bored, loud, insensitive...the list goes on and on."

Tidus smiled at Lenne. Lenne shook her head, but she was grinning back at him. She couldn't help but like Tidus. Yuna enjoyed the rest of the ride home. Tidus seemed happy too. Paine and Baralai both talked to Lenne. Yuna was busy daydreaming about being at the party with Tidus. She wondered if they would kiss. Yuna had never kissed a boy before. She was pulled out of her fantasy of her and Tidus dancing center stage by Lenne pulling the car into the driveway. Yuna frowned. She didn't want to get off Tidus's lap.

"Lenne, is it ok if Yuna came round? It's just I've got al bhed homework and she's so much better at it than me."

"Hmm. Ok, if Yuna wants to."

"I'd love to! Um, I guess I'll see all you guys later."

Paine and Baralai nodded. Yuna opened the door and jumped out the car. Tidus followed her and they waked across the road together. Tidus slipped his hand into Yuna's. She looked down and saw their fingers were laced. She had read somewhere that was better than cupped. She looked up at Tidus and smiled. He grinned at her. Yuna hardly ever went to Tidus's.

Tidus walked up to his door and pushed it open with his foot. As they walked in Yuna saw Jecht on the sofa, watching TV.

"Hi dad. Yuna's round."

Jecht turned round and smiled at Yuna.

"Good to se you Yuna. I don't suppose you'd like a coke?"

Yuna smiled. It was nice to see Jecht sober. He was a much better dad now.

"No thanks. I'm fine."

Jecht nodded and turned back to the TV.

"Uh, well, should we get started on this homework then?"

Tidus winked at her.

"Sure."

Yuna knew there wasn't any homework. They had both skipped al bhed that day. But she still followed Tidus to his room.

He opened his door and she stepped in. she looked around his room. It was painted light blue. Blitzball posters were stuck all around the walls. Tidus didn't normally talk about blitzball at school. He didn't like people to think he was interested in it just because his dad had played it. He focused more on basketball but Yuna knew he loved blitz best. She also knew he was trying out for the team this year.

Tidus walked over to his bed and sat down. Yuna sat next to him.

"I've got something to show you."

"What?"

"Close your eyes!"

Yuna did as she told.

"You ready?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good!"

He leaned over and put his mouth on hers. Yuna was surprised, but it was a nice surprise. He gently pushed her mouth open with his lips and put his tongue inside. Yuna's heart raced. He put his hands around her waist. Yuna put her hands on his shoulders. It was her first kiss and she wasn't sure what to do, but she risked putting the tip of her tongue in his mouth. She had read in a magazine that's what you should do. As she was wondering what to do next her pushed her tongue back in her mouth and flicked it up.

'_Are they supposed to do that?'_

Yuna didn't know about any of this. But Tidus seemed to know what he was doing. He had been out with girls in the past. But Yuna had never had a boyfriend. She'd had boys fancy her, but they weren't the type to be boyfriendish. Besides, she'd always liked Tidus. But he had always had girls asking him out. He'd say yes because he was fine to have any girl. He didn't mind if he didn't feel anything special for them. He wouldn't do anything with them though, just have a night out or something. But he had always been good friends with Yuna, and recently discovered he liked her as more than a friend. It was at lunch, and he had just told a joke as she was taking a bite out of her sandwich. She had laughed and started choking, and Rikku had to whack her on the back. He thought she looked really cute. She always looked really cute to him.

When they broke apart Yuna found she was panting a little. She looked shyly at Tidus, who was looking out of his window. She followed his gaze.

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh, just wondering."

"What about?"

"Uh...nothing really."

"Oh go on!"

"Well...I don't suppose you'd like to stay the night?"

* * *

Cookies for all who reveiw! So review please! 


	5. Shut up Rikku

A/N I'm so sorry for the long update, but my non-real-auntie had an operation and I'm kinda worried she may have breast cancer so that's why. That and my uncle has got depressed after his heart attack and my dog sliced his foot right open, but other than that I'm fine! Nah seriously, it's not that bad. I'm just a little worried is all. Oh and my BF has suddenly said she's another girls best friend, _right in front of me!_ Bitch bitch bitch! But that's ok coz that's just made me closer with my new best friend (Ha! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Livie!), and I've just become charity rep, so ya. I'm happy/angry/hyper. START THE STORY!

x-x-x-x-x

Yuna looked at Tidus.

"Tomorrows a school night."

"Oh yeah course! I'm not going tomorrow see."

"What, you skip today and tomorrow?"

"Well I'll be there, but not there. You know?"

"This isn't anything like in fifth grade when you and Gippal filled all the teachers cars with water and shaving foam is it?"

"You forgot silly string."

"Tidus! No way!"

"We won't do anything to the teachers cars, I promise. Boy scouts honour!"

"Tidus you weren't a boy scout."

"No but I beat one up once. Kidding!"

Yuna looked at him.

"So what are planning on doing?"

"Aha. It's a secret. Sorry!"

Yuna giggled.

"You and your secrets! First the time you took home that small little mouse..."

"And then it grew so huge it couldn't get out my bedroom door! Jecht went mental!"

"I told you not to feed it your socks!"

"Yeah well you didn't help! You just started screaming!"

"I was four! I thought it would eat me!"

"But why did you feed it my special stack of crisps? That just made it sick!"

"Your fault! Your socks mutated it so much it couldn't eat anything else! Man it was huge!"

"Yeah, but then Jecht and Braska came in and it turned out they were bigger than it."

"And they wouldn't let us see each other for weeks!"

"Do you remember when I found that bomb? And hid it in the fridge?"

"Yeah, and it exploded and food was all over the house for months!"

"How about when _you_ borrowed Lenne's designer black bag, the one she would kill you if you ruined it, and you spilt red paint all over it!"

"Ugh, don't remind me! Lenne grounded me for a whole year!"

Yuna and Tidus had sunk onto the floor and were crying with laughter. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about what they did when they were younger. When Yuna eventually decided to go home it was way past nine. She pushed herself up from the floor.

"I'd better go. I guess I'll see you tomorrow when you do this secret of yours."

"Trust me, you won't wanna miss it."

Yuna smiled at him and stood there for a few seconds, and an uncomfortable silence settled over them. Yuna broke it by saying,

"Well, uh, I'll go then, bye."

Tidus nodded and Yuna walked to his door. But Tidus stood in front of her and gave her a kiss.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

Yuna smiled again and walked out of the door.

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Yuna! There you are! I've been waiting! Look, I've gotta go for an audition, so I'll be back late! Dinners in the fridge, and if you need anything ask someone else!"

Lenne ran past her in a blur and Yuna watched as she stepped outside, and ran up to a car.

"Good to see you too Lenne."

She muttered and stared out of the window. She saw Lenne climb into Shuyin's car and leaned over and kissed him.

"No way! So much for an audition. An audition for what? Do you know Kimahri?"

Yuna looked expectantly at her cat, but no reply came. She looked back to the window and watched as the car pulled away. It was only after it had gone that Yuna smelt the expensive perfume and realised what Lenne had been wearing. A pair of too high heels, a tiny skirt that Yuna could swear was _hers_, and a top that showed too much for anyone to see.

"Hmm. Looks like she not trying to impress just the people she's auditioning for. Or maybe Shuyin's a one-man talent agency and I just haven't heard. What do you think Kimahri?"

"Purrrrrrr!"

"What does 'purrrrrrr!' mean?"

"Purrr. Meeeow!"

"Kimahri speak English please. What's that! Timmy jumped down the well! I'm coming Timmy!"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Lenne sat next to Shuyin, looking over the words she had written.

"Shu, is this a good song?"

"I can't look right now Lenne, in case you hadn't realised I'm driving."

"Alright grumpy. So what's the plan for tonight?"

"We go to your audition, you sing, you get the part, hopefully, we go out to dinner to celebrate."

"What if I don't get the part?"

"Then we go to the audition, you sing, you don't get the part and we go to dinner to cheer you up."

"Thanks Shuyin. You're a great guy."

Lenne stared intently at him, and Shuyin felt her gaze. He turned to look at her and before they knew what was happening their lips were joined in a kiss. They pulled apart and looked at each other. But a trucks horn alerted them both back to the road, and to where the truck was heading straight for them.

"Shuyin! Swerve!"

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

Shuyin desperately tried to turn and the truck tried to break. It was going too fast, and Shuyin was going too slow. Lenne covered up her eyes and screamed. She felt the truck smash into the car and heard yells. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that the truck had just damaged the back of the car. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Shuyin.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Fine. What about the driver?"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna walked over to the fridge to grab whatever dinner Lenne had left for her. She found a half eaten pizza with a note that said, 'microwave this, don't eat it raw!' Yuna rolled her eyes.

"I do that one time and she never trusts me again!"

She picked up the pizza and stuffed it in the microwave. She reached for the phone and dialled Rikku's number. Brother answered.

"This is Brother. Who is speaking?"

"Hey Brother it's Yuna. Is Rikku there?"

"Yuna! One moment."

She heard him yell at Rikku, and footsteps down the stairs. She heard Rikku say,

"Hand it over Brother!"

"Rikku! Where are your manners!"

"Not here."

Yuna sighed and looked at the timer on the microwave. Then she heard a bang and Brother whimpering.

"Hey Yunie!"

"Hi Rix. I wanna tal-"

"I've been wanting to talk to you all day! But Lenne said you were with Tidus."

"Yeah, that's what I wa-"

"You'll never guess who asked me to the party!"

"Rikku, I-"

"Guess! Go on!"

"Ri-"

"Guess!"

"But Rik-"

"Guess! Guess guess guess!"

"Rikku shut up a minute! I'm trying to tell you-"

"Whoever spoke first finishes first."

"Rikku! My pizza will go off in a minute!"

"Oh...then let me come over."

Yuna sighed.

"Fine."

"Great! Hey Cid! I'm going over to Yuna's!"

"Don't call me by my first name!"

"Whatever pops. Brother? Yuna said she thinks you're hot!"

Yuna almost dropped the phone.

"She did!"

"Nah I'm lying. Be over in a min Yunie."

"How are you gonna get over-"

Yuna started, but Rikku had already hung up.

"-here."

She finished lamely.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey Yunie!"

"Rikku? How did you get over so fast?"

"Brother gave me a lift. He just got a new bike."

"A motorbike?"

"Yup. Gippal's gonna get one soon. Won't that be cool? And speaking of Gippal he-"

"Shut up now Rikku. Have you ever kissed a boy?"

Rikku paused.

"What, like a dad, or brother, or like a guy boy?"

"Rikku don't annoy me. A guy boy."

Rikku looked at her.

"Well?"

"You said not to annoy you."

"Well you're annoying me now. Answer the question."

"Well...once when we were little I kissed Gippal on the cheek. But that was at Christmas."

"What did he do?"

"He went 'Eww, yucky girl, keep your hands off!'"

"That doesn't sound like Gippal."

"Well we were only three at the time."

"Have you kissed anyone since then?"

"Do you mean kiss or snog?"

"What are you a dictionary? Kiss, snog, they're the same!"

"Not really, people say snog when they mean a _real_ kiss."

"Right. Fine. Let me make this clearer. Have you ever _French _kissed a boy?"

"Oh yeah, when I was going out with Clasko."

"You went out with Clasko!"

"Well when I tried to say no he looked like he was gonna cry. And he seemed sweet, but he was kinda like a rabbit."

"...I won't ask. Did you enjoy it?"

"No it was all wet."

"Rix, you are my cousin and one of my best friends. You should feel honoured that I'm about to tell you this."

"Hold on a sec; I wanna slice of pizza."

Yuna stopped herself from hitting her over the head.

"Rix, concentrate."

"I'm concentrating. Mmm, yummy!"

"Don't talk with your mouthful, you're spraying crumbs on my top."

"Sorry Yunie."

"Today I went over to Tidus's house."

Rikku chewed her mouthful and waved her hands about.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm about to speak and warning you I'm finishing my mouthful."

"Right. Ok. What were you going to say?"

"Is Jecht getting better."

"Yes he is, but that's not the good bit. Anyway, we went to his room and then he said he had a surprise for me and–"

"Was it a present?"

"Shut up and I'll tell you."

"Oh ok. Was it a CD?"

"Rix, it wasn't a present!"

"Well that's not a very good surprise then is it."

"Rikku, the surprise was a wonderful thing and-"

"Can I tell you my news yet?"

"No. Now shut up and listen. Don't make any sound. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Rikku you broke the rules. Now listen. He said he had a surprise for me and told me to close my eyes, right?"

"Got it."

"I told you not to talk."

"No you said not to make a sound."

"Well talking is making a sound isn't it? Anyway, I closed my eyes and he leaned over and...he kissed me."

"...kiss or snog?"

"French kiss Rix, tongues and all."

"Well that's what a French kiss is isn't it?"

"Shut up. It was really nice and-"

"You've had your go. Its mine."

"Fine. What was your news?"

"Well, while we were walking home Gippal asked me to go to the party with him, but then he pushed me in a bush, and I pulled him in and-"

"Rikku! What did you do!"

"No nothing like that. But when he fell on me his hand kinda touched my chest."

"...why are you telling me this? Whatever you and Gippal get up to is your business, I don't want to know about it. And I really think you should be doing that sort of thing in private. Imagine how we would feel if we all saw this? You would be disgraced."

"Well it was only an accident. But I think we might be boyfriend and girlfriend now."

"Have you kissed him?"

"No..."

"Hmm. Not like me and Tidus then."

"Yuna, shut up. Your brain is mushed. This must be serious, I'm being the smart one for a change."

"What are you going to wear to cheerleading tryouts?"

"T-shirt and shorts."

"Have you got a routine yet?"

Rikku's face brightened.

"Yeah, I've been practising it! Do you want to see it?"

"No I was just being polite. Now put Titanic on and let's watch it."

"It's your house."

"So?"

"So you put it in."

"But you're the guest. Put it in. I'll get the popcorn."

"Should we invite over Leblanc and Paine?"

"Yeah, ring them up."

"Gotcha!"

**an hour later...**

"Do you think Lenne would mind if we had a sleepover?"

"Nah, grab your jammies and put another video in. Right Yuna?"

"Whatever Rikku. But now that she has finished boring you with her news, would you like to hear mine?"

"I wouldn't, it's not as interesting as mine."

"Shut up Rikku."

"Ya know you say that a lot."

Yuna glared at Rikku and squeezed in between Leblanc and Paine on the sofa. She was wearing her favorite jammies, with the cream shorts and strappy top with a moogle in the middle. She had been waiting to wear them for a while. Paine was just wearing an old black top with grey baggy trousers. Leblanc was wearing a bright pink nightie that hurt your eyes looking at it. Rikku had gone for her plain yellow ones, dropped off by an angry Brother.

"What is your news Yuna?"

"Well...Tidus and me kissed!"

"Really! What was it like?"

"Probably like a kiss Leblanc."

"Shut up Paine!"

"Hey are you guys going to school tomorrow?"

"The boys aren't."

"We could always ditch it and go to the mall..."

"Yeah...catch the bus out to Luca and spend our money."

"Forget about Besaid mall, Luca really is the place to go."

"Well that's why I just said it."

"Oh be quiet."

"Wait, what about the boys surprise?"

"I'll ask when it is then we can come back to school for it."

"Sounds like a lot of work..."

"We'll work it out tomorrow."

"Ok."

x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N I was going to leave a cliffy of Lenne and Shuyin with the truck, but that wouldn't really fit in with what I planned for them later. Which I won't say but might just happen after Yuna's cheerleading tryouts. But I'm not saying anything for definite.

Thank you for reviewing everyone, cookies for all! Review please! Please leave a review after the beep. ...wait for it...BEEP!


	6. The first time they met

A/N Ok, I'm sorry to say, but I'm going to be updating less than I thought I could. Since I started year nine school work is just soooo hard. Homework takes me ages and its hard enough having time for my friends. Apart from one friend I've been seeing too much, flirting with the boy she knows I like, and one of my friends keeps tickling me in a _too_ friendly way.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna picked up another load of popcorn. Rikku noticed and snatched the bowl.

"Hey! I'm eating that!"

"You keep stealing it all! I want some!"

Paine and Leblanc looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Give it back Rikku!"

"No!"

Leblanc saw a fight coming up and interrupted them both.

"Hey! I have some important news!"

Rikku's attention turned to her as soon as she said the word important.

"What is it?"

"Well my uncle Logos is coming to visit."

They looked at her.

"...And?"

"_And_ he's moving to Zanarkand soon!"

"That's nice. But why was it so important?"

"Well he has a new girlfriend."

"Who?"

"Get ready for it..."

Rikku threw a bunch of popcorn in her mouth.

"...Lucil!"

The popcorn dropped out of Rikku's mouth.

"OH MY GOD!"

"Didn't she star in that horror movie with Seymour Guado?"

"Man that is one creepy actor!"

"Tell me about it! Did you see him in revenge of the Guado part three?"

"Yep! I had nightmares about him for a whole week!"

"Rix you have nightmares about your teddy bear."

"...So?"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna winked at Paine. Paine nodded slightly and tapped Rikku on the shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Rikku, do you what Gippal said to me the other day?"

Rikku sat up eagerly.

"What! What did he say!"

"It was something about you..."

"Omigosh! What was it!"

Paine tapped the side of her nose. While Rikku was asking her about it, Yuna made a dive for the popcorn. She snatched the bowl out of Rikku's hands. But quicker than Yuna could blink, Rikku turned round and grabbed hold of it.

"My popcorn!"

"Ugh! Mine!"

"No! Gah! Mine!"

"Actually, its mine."

Leblanc grabbed hold of it too. Paine watched uninterestedly as all three of them struggled to get it. She got bored quickly though, and turned her attention to the videos Yuna had. She walked over to them and ran her fingers over them. She stopped at one video and grinned evilly. She picked the video out of the shelf.

"Hey, any of you wanna watch The Summoning Ship?"

Yuna and Rikku let go of the bowl of popcorn at the same time. Leblanc went flying back, with the popcorn, which landed on her head.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"The Summoning Ship! I don't know; it's really scary."

"That's the point. Hey if you're that scared..."

"I am!" Rikku shouted.

Paine scowled.

"You could even invite the boys over, to help you watch it. Right Yuna?"

Yuna started fiddling with her hair.

"I'd have to ask for Lenne's permission first..."

"So ask it. Not chicken are you Yuna?"

Yuna hesitated. She bit her lip. She grabbed hold of the long braid that dangled down her back and wrapped it around her arm. Rikku frowned.

"Yunie don't do that! You'll ruin it! You spent years growing it!"

Yuna smiled at her cousin.

"I'm the one who's supposed to boss you around, remember Rix?"

"Can we cut out the family crap? If I wanted that I could go home and watch Wakka and Lulu snogging on the couch."

"What, in front of you! That's gross! Cid would never snog someone in front of me or Brother!"

"Does Cid have anyone to snog?"

"He's seeing a woman called...oh what was it? Oh yeah, I think her name was Edea. She's kinda creepy though."

"How is she creepy?"

"The way she acts, and talks. And her laugh! She could be a villain on TV."

"At least he's not dating a teacher! Lenne left with Shuyin earlier tonight."

"Speaking of Lenne, weren't you gonna call her?"

Yuna shrugged at Leblanc. Her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. It said it was 10:15.

"Maybe I should call her, just to see how long she'll be."

Paine shrugged. Leblanc nodded and Rikku picked up the empty popcorn bowl.

"While you're there do ya mind making more popcorn?" She asked.

Yuna glared at her.

"I'll take that as a no shall I?"

Yuna nodded at her. Rikku sighed and stuck her hand out to Yuna. Yuna grabbed it and pulled her up.

"Ugh! You're getting heavier! What have you been eating?"

Rikku thought for a second.

"Popcorn." She answered eventually.

Paine rolled her eyes.

"She's getting quicker. Normally it would have taken her 10 minutes to figure that out."

Leblanc sniggered. Yuna grinned.

"Paine! You're so mean!"

"Whatever."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna picked up the phone and dialled Lenne's mobile. (Or cell phone, whatever) Rikku ripped open the bag of popcorn and put it in the microwave. Lenne answered the phone after a couple of rings.

"Hello?"

"Hi Lenne. Listen I-"

"Oh Yuna! Look I won't be coming home until late, me and Shuyin had an accident."

"An accident! Oh my god, are you ok!"

"Uh...yeah we're fine...hold on a sec Yuna."

"But Lenne! What's happened!"

Rikku turned away from the popcorn and looked at Yuna.

"What's happened?" she mouthed at Yuna.

"Accident," Yuna mouthed back.

"Sorry Yuna, Shuyin's trying to talk to the truck driver and the insurance guy at the same time."

"Uh...so?"

"So...what? Oh yeah. Listen Yuna, I've really gotta go."

"Well, my friends came round!"

"There's ice cream in the fridge, why don't you eat that."

"Ok..."

"Bye Yuna!"

"Bye Lenne..."

Yuna blinked and hung up the receiver. Rikku jumped up behind her.

"What happened! Are they ok!"

"I think they crashed into someone, Lenne didn't say."

Rikku frowned.

"So...what do we do?"

"Lenne said there was ice cream in the fridge..."

"Ooh ice cream!"

Yuna watched as Rikku dived head first into the fridge.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna rolled over on the mattress and banged into Paine. Paine opened her eyes and whacked her with the pillow.

"Sorry." Yuna mumbled, half asleep. She turned over to the other side and fell asleep quickly again.

**In her dreams...**

A four year old Yuna sat under the tree in the front garden. Lenne and Braska watched her, worriedly, from the kitchen window. It was her first weekend in her new house, and she knew that her father would be leaving tomorrow. Yuna started fiddling with the Velcro on her shoes. The last shoes that her late mother had bought her. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and a sob escaped her throat. She heard kids playing in the park nearby, but blotted out all sounds as she thought about her mother. She didn't hear footsteps come closer to her.

"Why are you crying? Are you sad?"

Yuna looked up to see a young boy with golden blonde hair that shone in the sun. He tilted his head on one side as he looked at her. She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"Yes. I am sad."

She looked back down at her shoes.

"Why are you sad?"

"M-my mom died."

"...my mom died too."

"My dad's leaving tomorrow."

"I wish mine would leave."

Yuna looked up at him, shocked.

"You shouldn't say things like that! How could you wish your dad would leave? Don't you like him?"

"No. he always shouts at me. My name's Tidus."

"I'm Yuna."

Tidus dropped down to the floor next to her.

"Hello Yuna. I've got school tomorrow."

"So have I."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna woke up with a start. Rikku had just whacked her stomach by accident. She groaned and pushed her arm off of her. She groggily wiped her eyes rid of sleep. She had been dreaming of the first time she had met Tidus.

"That's weird," she muttered to herself, "I haven't dreamt that in ages."

x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N Woo, sorry for the lack of updates and all. Anyways, thanks to all of you who reviewed.


	7. Yuna,Rikku and,

**A/N, I'm updating, I'm updating...I'm real tired! I'm sorry that this chapter was waay late, but oh well. By the way, the party is in the next chapter, the cheerleading would be too, but I moved it to today.**

**Disclaimer: HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME DO THIS! **

**I own a character that I made in this chappie! But this is NOT a disclaimer! It's me showing off. So nyaa! **

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna played with a strand of her hair while lying down on the mattress. Rikku gently snored next to her. Yuna stared at the beams across the ceiling. She had never noticed how they crossed over like that...

"Ugh. I am really bored." She muttered to herself. She looked at the clock and sighed. It was 5:30 in the morning. She clicked her tongue and pushed herself up. She carefully stepped over the bodies still sleeping. She wandered upstairs to feed Kimahri. She walked along the landing and thought she heard moaning. Yuna stopped. It sounded dodgy. She shrugged, guessing that Lenne must be watching TV. She would have to tell her off about it in the morning. She heard rain falling outside, and looked to the window. Large drops of rain fell heavily down and dripped along the pane. For some reason this made her feel like crying. She frowned. She felt sad, but didn't know why. It was such a weird feeling, and she tried to shake it off.

x-x-x-x-x

Yuna emptied the tin of cat food into Kimahri's bowl, and he happily jumped into it, and buried his face in it. Yuna found that so cute she immediately picked him up and snuggled her face into his. She lifted him up, and he tried to lick the cat food on her cheek, which she obviously hadn't noticed. She put Kimahri back in his bowl and walked to her bedroom. Even though a shopping trip sounded good, she knew she had to go to school. She sighed and flopped on top her bed. She pulled her warm covers over her and sighed again. She closed hr eyes and lay there for a while. But she got bored quickly, and started moving. She was trying to make a good impression on Dona, and the best way to do that is to dress good. She pushed herself up and clumsily crossed the room to her wardrobe. She pulled out a bunch if things on coat hangers and threw them on her bed. She then reached in again and pulled out a bunch of shoes. She put them on the bed next to her clothes. She picked up a red dress that Rikku had bought her. Which meant it was "NOT SUITABLE FOR SCHOOL." As a few teachers had told her. Yuna cringed at the memory and put the dress back in the cupboard.

"Yuna?" A man's voice asked.

Yuna frowned and turned to see whoever it was that had just asked her name. She screamed when she saw it was Shuyin. Lenne came running in.

"What's wrong! Are you ok?"

"Ok! OK! MY SPORTS TEACHER IS IN MY HOUSE, IN MY ROOM, AND YOU..."

Yuna stopped and remembered the dodgy moaning.

"OH MY GOD! YOU PERV!"

Yuna didn't know if she was talking to Lenne or Shuyin, and she didn't really care.

"Yuna!"

"YOU SLEPT TOGETHER! AT MY SLEEPOVER! _WE_ DON'T EVEN DO THAT YET!"

Shuyin and Lenne turned red. Lenne grinded her teeth together.

"Maybe I should go..."

Lenne grabbed Shuyin's wrist.

"Stay."

"I'm gonna get you back for this Lenne! As soon as you announce that you're pregnant, I'm gonna say I am too! And then I'll leave my baby to you!"

"Yuna! I am not gonna get pregnant!"

"Well then...I am! I'm outta here!"

Yuna stormed out of the door, and then came back in again and coughed.

"This is my room, you people leave."

x-x-x-x-x

"Well think of it this way Yuna, if Lenne does get pregnant, you'll be able to live with a cute little baby!"

"Yeah, but then Shuyin will move in and I wont be able to do the things I do at home!"

"Like what?"

"I dunno...dance in my underwear!"

"I bet Shuyin wouldn't mind. He'd probably give you dance lessons."

"Uh, Shuyin doesn't dance Rikku."

Rikku stuck her tongue out at Tidus. While Yuna, Rikku and now Tidus, talked about Lenne and Shuyin, Paine, Leblanc and Baralai and Gippal talked about which music was better; hip-hop or rap. Paine said she preferred gothic music though.

"Well it doesn't matter; because I'm gonna get pregnant to show them."

"Aww, Tidus you're going to be a daddy!"

Yuna whacked Rikku over the head a couple of times with a hardback book, which was surprisingly heavy, when Auron came in. Yuna saw Leblanc pull her skirt up even more under her desk.

"Settle down, quicker than that."

A few people pulled faces, mouthing rude things at him while he wasn't looking. A knock at the door distracted everyone from this morning ritual. Twenty five faces turned to the door as a girl stepped through it. She had long blonde hair that was tied up in a low ponytail. Her bright blue eyes scanned the room. She was wearing three quarter length trousers with a red top that showed her stomach and a newsboy shaped hat on her head.

"Hello. Are you the girl who'll be joining our class?" Auron asked.

"Yeah, whatever."

Auron raised his eyebrows.

"What's your name then?"

"I'm Merissa."

"I'm Auron, and this person with the spare seat next to them is Yuna."

Yuna dropped the crisp packet she had been secretly eating and looked up. She frowned at the empty seat next to her. Paine had moved seats while she had been arguing with Leblanc and the boys. Merissa looked over at Yuna.

"I'm sure Yuna here would be kind enough to show you around school."

Yuna sucked her teeth and glared at her desk. She looked up and flashed Merissa a smile. Merissa raised her eyebrows and sighed. She slumped into her seat and looked to the front. Yuna turned to look at Rikku and Rikku mouthed '_What a bitch!' _at her. Yuna nodded.

"Oh wait, before I forget, apparently cheerleading tryouts have been moved to today, during...first period. Does that apply to any-"

Yuna, Rikku and Leblanc bolted out of the classroom.

"-one?"

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Ok, and next up we have Yuna." Dona called out.

"Good luck Yunie!" Rikku whispered to her. Rikku had already been, and Dona told her she would probably get on the team. After Yuna was Leblanc, who was sitting with Paine. Paine was there so she could miss maths.

Yuna stood up and went over to the table where Dona and two other girls sat. One of the girls handed her a pair of pom-poms, and Yuna took them and walked into the centre. Her routine was a lot like a dance with splits and cartwheels. She moved her arms from one side to the other then to the middle and took three steps into the middle and cart wheeled into the splits.

After she had finished her routine Dona and the two girls clapped, and the people watching cheered. She walked up to the desk and Dona congratulated her.

"That was the best yet. I can almost guarantee you'll be on the squad."

Yuna grinned happily and stopped herself from bouncing up and down.

"Ok, will Leblanc come up please?"

One of the two girls looked at Paine and Leblanc.

"Which one of you is Leblanc?"

Leblanc stood up.

"Me, obviously."

Paine frowned at her tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well come on. I mean, cheerleading? Not exactly the goth thing is it?"

"So what, I'm a goth?"

"Well, yeah."

"Oh, so it's so hard for a goth to do this..."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Dona stood up.

"Ok, we've made our decision. Even though you were all...decent, only three of you could make the cut. And those three are..."

Yuna and Rikku craned their necks forward. Rikku started biting her nails.

"Yuna,"

A round of applause went round.

"Rikku,"

Another round of applause.

"And..."

x-x-x-x-x-x

**That's all folks! ****Thankies for reviewing! Cookies and ice cream for all! **


	8. War on Merissa!

A/N Wow, I is updating fast ya'll! Well for me anyways. Oh and well done to killkikyopeople and animesdbest for guessing some of my ideas! Ok, I know I said the party was in this chapter, but it's going to be in the next one instead. Don't worry, it'll come.

x-x-x-x-x

"...Paine."

Leblanc's mouth dropped open. Paine choked on the gum the girl in the back row had just handed her. A round of applause went round. Yuna and Rikku leant over to give her mad and crazy hugs.

"AAARGH! GET OFF!"

Dona coughed irritably.

"There is of course the mascot position."

Yuna flinched. She'd never been able to look her moogle plushie in the eye after her turn as mascot.

"That goes to Leblanc."

Rikku covered her smile with her hand. Paine sniggered, and Yuna hid her face under her hair. Leblanc's mouth dropped even further. Paine's face suddenly contorted into a grimace.

"I can't be a cheerleader!"

"Why not?"

"Because, I have a good reputation. I like my reputation. And do you know what would spoil it? This. What are all the people I beat up over the years gonna think? My sister will finally have dirt on me! Lulu will never shut up."

Yuna rolled her eyes. As she did she caught Merissa in the doorway. Yuna sighed and closed her eyes.

'_That's right! I'm supposed to show her around!'_

She bit her lip and slowly opened her eyes. She forced a smile on her face and started walking towards her. As she got closer she realised she was talking and laughing. Yuna smiled a little then.

'_She must be with a guy.'_

Yuna shook her head. Merissa saw her walking towards her and nodded, a hint of a smile on her face. Yuna waved to her, and the guy she was with turned to look at her. Yuna stopped. The boy grinned and waved at her. Yuna stared at him, coldly.

"Tidus, what're you doing here?" she asked accusingly.

"To see my girl get cheerleader!"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lightly. Yuna tried to wriggle out of it, but she couldn't stop herself for long and soon hugged him back. Merissa's eyes narrowed. Yuna didn't see it though. Merissa tossed her hair. Yuna noticed she had taken it down.

"Yes, well, congratulations Yuna. I guess it's not everyday _you _get to be cheerleader."

Yuna shook Tidus off of her. Merissa had managed to make that sound like an insult. And the smile that would have been genuine and friendly on anyone else's face, looked twisted and full of hate on hers. Tidus glanced down at Yuna, hurt that she'd just pushed him off.

"I've gotta go to gym class. Bye."

Yuna took her eyes off of Merissa and looked at Tidus.

"Oh. Ok."

She leant up to kiss him. But he walked away instead. With her lips puckered and her eyes looking stunned, Merissa immediately laughed.

"Oh, dear. Having boyfriend troubles? I wouldn't know what that's like. No boy has ever ditched me. But I heard that it hurts."

Yuna sucked her lips in and glared at Merissa.

"Well, I guess you actually have to have a boyfriend, to be 'ditched' by one."

Merissa ran her tongue across her teeth. She smiled nastily at Yuna and stuck her hand on her hip.

"Hmm. Whatever. Are you going to show me to my classes or what?"

Merissa looked her up and down, flicked her hair one last time, and walked out into the hall. Yuna stared after her and closed her eyes. She silently counted to ten. She had a clear memory of being told what to do when you're angry...

Yuna looked up into the face of her mother. She held the broken toy and gritted her teeth. Her mother ran her fingers through Yuna's hair.

"Ssh, my baby. Whenever you get angry, do you know what you have to do?"

Little Yuna sniffed and shook her head.

"You have to count to ten. And then your anger will be gone. Go on, try it!"

x-x-x-x-x

Yuna led the way to the cafeteria. Merissa yawned loudly.

"This is your cafeteria? Bit small isn't it?"

Yuna swallowed, and forced a smile on her face.

"We only come in here for break. We spend lunch outside."

"Hmm. Well I guess anything is better than this claustrophobic cupboard. Is everything in this school so crap?"

"Just you." Yuna muttered under her breath.

Merissa saw Tidus, and smiled and waved. Then her eyes landed on Gippal and she grinned.

"Hmm. I guess the boys aren't so bad."

"Sorry. They're taken. Bad luck."

Merissa smiled at Yuna.

"They're taken _now_. You never know what might change."

Yuna's eyes flashed. Merissa started walking towards them when Yuna grabbed her wrist.

"Don't even think about it."

"Think about what?"

"I'm serious. Don't."

Merissa raised her eyebrows, and slipped down into Yuna's seat. Right next to Tidus.

Yuna waited for Tidus to point out that that was Yuna's seat. But instead he said hello and offered her some of his sandwich. Yuna looked on furiously as she bit into it, while he was still holding it. Tidus exchanged glances with Baralai and turned back to Merissa. Paine, Rikku and Leblanc turned round to Yuna. Rikku nodded her head over to a spare table and Yuna nodded. They got up and walked over to Yuna, and they sat down at the table. Rikku and Leblanc turned back to see the boys staring at them. Yuna kicked them from under the table.

"Ignore them."

Rikku nodded, and Leblanc turned round completely.

"Yuna. Lenne's talking to you."

Yuna looked at Paine, and then to where she was pointing. Lenne looked mad. She mouthed, 'Get over here right now!'

Yuna sighed and pushed her chair back.

"Well, I'm for it now."

"Good luck Yunie!" Rikku whispered.

Leblanc rolled her eyes and Paine just raised an eyebrow.

x-x-x-x-x

When Yuna got over to Lenne, she was immediately dragged out into the hallway. Lenne looked at her. Yuna shifted her feet on the floor and looked down at her knees.

"Well?" Lenne asked.

"Well what?"

"Don't you what me! What have you got to say for yourself!"

"Me! What about you! I can't believe you!"

"Yuna, I-"

Lenne sighed and looked at the floor.

"You had no right to talk to Shuyin like that." She said after a while.

"You had no right to be sleeping with him!"

"Excuse me! I had every right! I can do what I like!"

"Oh, so does that mean I have a right to be sleeping with someone!"

"No!"

"Why should you have the right when I don't!"

"Because your not even 15 yet!"

"I will be soon!"

"I've had enough. You're grounded."

"You can't ground me! What about the party!"

"There's no party for you!"

Yuna's eyes welled up, and she ran off. Lenne sighed and covered her face with her hands.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Rikku turned back to Paine and Leblanc.

"Should we go after her?"

Paine looked down the hall where Yuna had run off.

"Yeah. Just in case."

The three of them stood up from where they were crouching. Leblanc looked back at the guys. Tidus had stuck two chips up his nose and was doing a walrus impression. Gippal was throwing chips into Tidus's mouth, and Baralai looked like he wanted to die. Seeing Leblanc looking at him he waved. Leblanc gestured for him to come over. He frowned and stood up and walked over to them.

"What's up?"

"Yuna." Rikku dropped her voice to a whisper. "Lenne's not letting her go to the party."

Baralai gasped.

"But she has to go! We're all gonna go!"

Paine rolled her eyes.

"Well obviously Yuna's not gonna go."

"We could help her sneak out."

Paine looked at Rikku.

"Sounds like fun."

They nodded and went down the hall in the direction Yuna had gone off in.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuna sat in the girl's bathroom, crying on the window ledge. (A/N Its where all the girls go when they want to cry at my school. Or smoke. Or if they're on the phone. Or of they're really bored.) She wiped at her eyes with a tissue she got from one of the stalls. She leant against the window and gritted her teeth.

'_The only reason Lenne's grounding me is because she didn't know what to do. It's so unfair!'_

One of the stalls banged open and the smell of smoke became stronger. Synea stepped out of the stall and looked at Yuna. She smirked.

"What's the matter? Didn't like your locker fun the other day?"

"Get lost Synea! Go smoke around someone else!"

"My my. Rude aren't we?"

"Go away!"

"Make me."

Yuna swung her fist at her, and hit her nose. Synea stumbled back, shocked.

"You're getting it now bitch!"

Synea grabbed Yuna's collar and held her high in the air. She pulled her fist back and Yuna shut her eyes tight. She waited for Synea to do permanent damage to her face, when she was knocked out of Synea's hands and sent to the floor. Synea crashed into the wall, and Yuna turned to see Paine standing over her. Rikku helped Yuna up, and she noticed that Baralai was standing nervously in the doorway. Yuna hugged her cousin, and began sobbing again.

x-x-x-x-x

Baralai grabbed another crisp out of the packet, and nervously looked around.

"Baralai, you can go to class if you want." Paine said.

"What? And miss the chance of a lifetime to be in the girl's bathroom? Hey, you guys get soap!"

Yuna dabbed her eyes with another tissue. She, Leblanc, Rikku, Paine and Baralai had been in the girl's bathroom for an hour. And Paine was beginning to worry about how it was affecting Baralai. She and Leblanc were both leaning by the sinks. Rikku and Yuna were on the window sill, and Baralai was crouched down by the tampon machine. He kept giving it nervous glances like it might attack him.

Paine sighed and pushed herself up. She wondered over to Baralai and slid down the wall next to him.

"Hey." She said. He smiled at her.

"Hey."

They looked at each other a while, then Baralai blushed and turned to face the wall. Paine lowered her gaze to the floor, and tried to think of something to say.

"I know it's a bit mean, but is this really all about the party?" Leblanc interrupted.

Rikku glared at her. Yuna sniffed.

"M-Merissa. S-she's...she..."

Yuna trailed off and looked sadly out of the window.

"She was flirting really obviously."

Rikku looked at Baralai.

"With Tidus?"

"And Gippal." He replied.

"You might wanna watch out there Rikku. He didn't look like he minded."

Rikku grabbed another tissue and started ripping it to shreds.

"Didn't she flirt with you then?" Leblanc asked.

Paine shot her a look.

"She did but I ignored her. Hey, what's the time?"

"Almost time for assembly. Why?" Rikku said, while biting the tissue. Yuna winced as it scraped over her teeth.

"Assembly was when we had that thing planned. I wonder if Tidus and Gippal will go through with it."

"Y-you s-should go (hiccup) find them and h-help (hiccup) them."

"And leave all this? No way."

Baralai banged his head on the tampon machine and swore.

"Can we move this please?"

They laughed. Yuna climbed down form the window sill and looked in the mirror on the wall. She groaned.

"M-my eyes are all (hiccup) puffy!" she wailed.

"Splash them with water." Rikku said helpfully.

Yuna put the tap on, and splashed her eyes. She rubbed her face.

"God. I'm a m-monster!"

"Hello Clarisse!"

"Baralai!" Rikku squeaked.

"What?"

Their laughter was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"If that's you Synea, I'll send you flying into that wall again." Paine yelled.

"And if that's a teacher; I'm a girl, I swear!" Baralai called out.

They all laughed again.

"Baralai?"

Baralai stopped laughing and turned red.

x-x-x-x-x

"Baralai? Is that you?" Tidus asked.

Gippal started laughing. Tidus shoved him.

"You go in first."

"No you."

"No way. You."

"Neither of you are coming in! And if you even think about it, Paine will kick your ass!" They heard Rikku yell.

"Uh...well...we just wondered what was going on."

"And why Baralai's suddenly a girl!"

They heard someone banging their head and swearing.

"What is with this damn tampon machine!"

"Baralai, you need to put twenty Gil in it first!"

"Oh Hahaha, very funny Gippal."

"Can we come in?"

"NO!"

x-x-x-x-x

"Pass me another crisp Baralai." Rikku said.

"So we're not letting them in, right?"

"Right."

"What if they come in anyway?" Yuna whispered.

"You hide in one of the stalls." Paine said.

"Good idea."

"Maybe if Yuna hides in one of the stalls we could let them in now?" Leblanc said.

"I'll hide too!"

"Whatever Rikku."

Yuna and Rikku stood up and went into a stall. They locked the door, and sat on the seat together.

"Why did you come in the same one as me! It's cramped now!"

"I didn't want to be alone..." Rikku mumbled.

Paine walked to the door. She opened it.

"Ok you can come in now."

x-x-x-x-x

"Where's Yuna?"

"And Cid's girl?"

"I HAVE A NA-"

Yuna clapped her hand over Rikku's mouth.

"Shut up!" she hissed.

"Well, that answers that question." Gippal said.

"Sorry!" Rikku whispered.

"It's ok."

"Um...are they gonna come out?"

Paine, Leblanc and Baralai looked at each other.

"No..."

"Not for you!" Leblanc spat.

"What did we do!"

Paine, Leblanc and Baralai rolled their eyes in unison. They heard Yuna hiccup.

"How can you even talk to Merissa? She's such a bitch."

"She's alright." Tidus said defensively.

Suddenly the stall door banged open and Yuna stepped out.

"I'm going to the nurse."

Rikku squealed and jumped off the seat.

"Wait for me!"

x-x-x-x-x

Yuna lay on the sick bed, staring at the ceiling while Rikku was slumped on the seat.

"How come you get the bed?" Rikku asked.

Yuna didn't answer. Rikku squirmed in the seat as an uncomfortable silence settled around them.

"It's almost time to go home. Should we leave?"

There was a pause.

"Yeah." Yuna muttered.

The sound of footsteps came from the doorway, and someone coughed. Rikku looked up.

"Um, I'm gonna leave you guys alone. I wanna get home anyway."

Yuna was still staring at the ceiling as she mumbled goodbye. Then she frowned.

"Rikku have you been sniffing paint again? There's only of me."

"I think she meant me." A familiar voice said.

"Oh." Yuna said flatly.

She sat up and turned to Tidus. He looked nervous and worried.

"Uh, I'm sorry about today."

Yuna smiled sweetly.

"What are you sorry for?"

"Uh...I don't know?" Tidus said hopefully.

Yuna smiled again and lay back down on the bed. She glared up at the ceiling.

"Uh...for flirting with Merissa?" Tidus tried again.

Sighing Yuna sat up again.

"You gave her my seat! You did your walrus impression! You let her bite out of your sandwich!"

"That's cos she told me before that she didn't have any lunch and I told her she could have some of mine..."

Yuna picked up the cushion that was behind her head and threw it at him. Tidus ducked and it hit the wall.

"Does this mean you don't want to go to the party with me?"

Yuna bit her lip.

"I can't go anyway."

"I know. I was gonna sneak you out."

Yuna laughed.

"Tidus come here."

He grinned and went up close to her.

"Closer."

He went up closer to her, and leant down.

"Yeah?"

Yuna smiled and spat in his face.

"Ugh! Gross! I'll get you back for that!"

Tidus jumped on top of her and started blowing in her face.

x-x-x-x-x

Rikku made her way to the gates. She stopped and started waiting for Gippal out of habit. But she realised she wasn't talking to him and sighed. She started walking out on her own. It was the first time she had walked without Gippal. She felt a little guilty leaving him back there. She looked at the pavement and sighed again.

Glancing up she caught sight of a familiar spiky blonde haircut. Gippal had left without her. Rikku clenched her fists and grinded her teeth. She glared at him, and realised that he wasn't walking alone. She saw the long blonde hair that could only belong to Merissa turn, and Merissa saw Rikku and smiled nastily. Winking at Rikku she draped her arms on Gippal's shoulder and walked even closer to him. Hot tears stung at Rikku's eyes and a large lump formed in her throat. She couldn't bear to see either of them anymore, so she started running through the people to get home as quick as possible. She pushed past Gippal and Merissa and ran past. As her feet thumped on the ground more and more tears ran down her face.

x-x-x-x-x

Yuna climbed down from the bus, and made her way up to her house. Lenne's car was in the driveway, but Yuna didn't want to talk to her so she took out her keys and opened up the door. She was about to make her to her room, when she saw a young woman standing in the living room.

"Hello, can I help you?" Yuna asked.

The woman turned round. She had black hair with gold streaks and brown eyes. She smiled at Yuna and tears welled up in her eyes.

"My baby!" she whispered.

Yuna felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She started shaking. Her eyes widened. Tears began to form in her own eyes.

x-x-x-x-x

Well well well. Who is this woman? Can you guess? First you have to guess what character she is and then you have to guess how she knows Yuna. Anyone who guesses will get a cookie, and the first one through will get a place in the story as one of the cheerleaders! Or if you don't wanna be a cheerleader you can be a person in the class. So, what are you waiting for? Review and say! And uh, you might wanna leave your real name so it can be said in this fic. Or make one up if you want.


	9. PARTY, PARTY!

**A/N Well! It's been along time…heheh! I'm ashamed. This is just too terrible. But as my profile says, these will come in slow. And anyone who actually gives a damn should probably go read it.**

x-x-x-x-

Yuna stared at the woman as a tear slowly dripped down her cheek. The woman mirrored her tears. Yuna rubbed at her eyes. Before she could stop it a sob escaped her throat. She shook her head violently. She screwed her eyes shut and opened them again.

'_This…is…a dream!' _

The woman smiled at her, tears pouring out of her eyes. Yuna sobbed again and lunged at the woman, her arms outstretched.

"Mom!"

"My baby!" the woman cried.

Yuna hugged her mother, and cried into her shoulder. After a while she croaked out, "B-but you're supposed to be dead!"

The woman stopped suddenly.

"Dead?! Is _that_ what your father told you?!"

x-x-x-x-x-

**The next morning…**

A girl with electric blue hair, put into a high ponytail with chains tied into it, waited outside a house, nervously checking through her bag. She was wearing a black t-shirt that's showed her belly-button and black dress pants. She ran a hand through one of the chains, dark red nail polish flashing through it, and her black lips were pulled into an evil smile. The door to the house opened suddenly, and a girl stepped through. She had short black hair and was wearing a black hoodie with MADE across the front with black jeans. She slammed the door to her house and adjusted her studded bracelets, two on both wrists, and nodded at the girl.

"Hey, are those new contacts, Chantelle?"

Chantelle opened her eyes wide, showing off the cat eye contacts to her friend Ash.

"They look cool. Where'd you-"

"YOO-HOO! Hey, over here!"

Ash and Chantelle, also known as Karu, turned to see a girl waving her arms like mad and heading for them at top speed. Her blonde hair had black streaks in them, and lay dead straight down to the small of her back. She was wearing a dark purple shirt that showed her bare midriff and jeans with black roses snaking their way up, embroidered on them. Her pierced belly button glinted in the sunlight, as did her nose stud. (A/N What? I want my nose pierced!!) She skidded to a halt and grinned at them. Her bouncy and childish attitude clashed with the other two.

"S'up Channi, Ashy?"

"Ash. Nothing much. You?"

"Nu-uh. What about her? Still planning on screwing up the cheerleading system?"

"Hey, they deserve it. Do you like my new contacts?"

The girl leaned in for a closer look.

"Yeah they're cool, but a little creepy. Go nicely with the dark blue eye shadow."

Karu shook her head, her chains rattling as she did.

"Katie, how can you be so happy in the mornings?"

"Well I'm not at first, but then after my shower I tend to perk up."

Katie slung her drawstring bag off of her shoulders and pulled something out of it. Feathers floated down onto her head. She slung a feather bower around her shoulders.

"No way. You are not walking into school with that around your shoulders." Ash firmly told her.

"But it looks cool! And people will notice my individual style."

"Yeah. For being a total dork."

"I'm not a dork. I'm….quirky!"

"Quirky, dorky, whatever way you say it, you're not wearing it!!"

Katie turned to Chantelle.

"What do you think Channi?"

"I think if I put exploding pompoms into the next show, we'd have flying cheerleaders!"

"Not all the cheerleaders are mean ya know."

Chantelle and Ash exchanged glances.

"Maybe not to you." Ash pointed out.

"You know, if you tried a little harder, you might get on with them too."

"Not likely. Defiantly not likely."

Katie stuck her tongue out at the two of them and started walking.

"Come on, we're gonna be late!" she called behind her shoulder.

"Hey look Katie; it's that guy you like." Karu said, pointing in his direction.

Katie squealed. "GIPPY!!"

x-x-x-x-x-

Gippal walked to school alone today, he had stopped over at Rikku's house and Cid said she'd already left.

"She must be real mad at me." He muttered, thinking out loud. A loud "GIPPY!!" brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality. In time to see a hyperactive girl heading for him at top speed.

"AAAAAAGHHH!!!" He turned round to start running, but she lept on his back and hugged him.

"Get off me woman!!" He started trying to pull her off, but she clung on tight. He sighed.

"Fine then, don't. Man, its too early in the morning for this."

Ash and Chantelle watched the scene with identical smirks on their faces.

"Poor Gippal, he can't go a day without her chasing after him."

"Yeah. Do you think we should help?"

They looked at each other.

"Nah." They said in unison.

"Did ya miss me?" Katie asked.

"Did you go anywhere?"

Katie narrowed her eyes at him, and jumped down off his back.

"I've been on holiday for a week!!"

"Have you?! I didn't even noti- YEOUCH!!!"

x-x-x-x-x-

"That was a bit harsh don't you think, Katie?"

"Yeah, you did kick him in the…._painful_ place." Chantelle added.

"He deserved it." Katie muttered bitterly as they sat at their desks. Their teacher, Elma, walked in and silenced them. They ignored her of course, but it was the best she could hope for.

x-x-x-x-x-

Baralai and Tidus winced as they heard what had happened to Gippal that morning. Gippal sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"The one place I can escape from her."

"You really do have a lot of women, don't you? I mean, there's Katie, Synea, Rikku, Merissa and that girl from Luca high, you had a fling with her too." Tidus said.

Gippal kicked him under the table.

"Do you want her to hear? I've been through enough as it is."

Baralai drummed his fingers on the table. He silently acknowledged Paine walk into the classroom. He got up and walked over to her.

"Still no sign of Yuna?"

"She's at home, apparently. Rikku's talking to Lenne right now."

Baralai raised an eyebrow.

"She sick?"

"Who knows?"

x-x-x-x-x-

Yuna opened her eyes and looked across to her alarm clock.

"9:15?! I'm late!"

Her eyes widened in horror and she jumped out of her bed. She ran downstairs and froze as she saw a note on the fridge door. She yanked it off and the magnet holding it up fell noisily to the floor.

'_Yuna, have gone to school, thought you'd be too tired to go. There's some left over pizza in the fridge, and your mom left her mobile number. _

_Lenne xxx'_

Yuna stared at the note and a surge of guilt came over her for yelling at Lenne. Her eyes drifted back to the fridge and her mom's number looked out at her, printed in the same handwriting as ever. Yuna got out her own phone, and started typing her own message.

'_Lenne, soz I yelled at u, I was just mad. Luv Yuna xxx_

_PS can I still go 2 the parti??'_

Yuna sent the message then studied her mom's number. Or numbers. She had left three. Her home, her work and her mobile. Yuna started keying in her mobile, but then thought better of it and dialled the work number instead.

She counted three rings before a woman picked it up.

"Hello, Rinoa Heartily's office, how may I help you?"

"Uh, yeah, hi. Can you tell her her daughter rang, and maybe later she could call me back?"

"Name please?"

"Y-Yuna."

Her question phased Yuna; surely her mother would've told people about her?

"Thankyou dear. Anything else?"

"No thanks. I'm ok."

Yuna pressed the end call button and set her phone down. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. Her mothers visit had been short. She'd left as soon as the subject of Braska had come up. Yuna had spent the whole of the night trying to figure things out. Why had her mom disappeared? Why had she and her father moved here? And better yet, why was half of her life a lie? She had been told her mother was dead; her only family member left being her father.

She had grown up missing out on the motherly daughter things to do. Sure, Lenne was cool for the girly things, but she wasn't very maternal. Out of her friends only Gippal and Leblanc were the only ones with a mother. And Gippal had both his parents. Yuna had never really thought about it, but it was true. Paine and Lulu's parents had been killed when Paine was very young, and Rikku's mother died giving birth to her. And Baralai didn't even talk about his parents.

Yuna thought about the many times she had dreamed of it being her and her father and mother again. In their small house with the flowers always on the table. And her mothers perfume would always fill the air. On those nights Yuna could even smell her. The scent would waft around her, and before she even knew it, it would disappear.

The sound of her phone bleeping brought her sharply out of her thoughts.

'_Don't worry about it sweetie, just take it easy today. We'll talk about the party later. Lenne xxx'_

Yuna rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her eyes drifted over to the living room.

"Time for a little day time TV, huh Kimahri?"

Yuna said, waiting for her cat to show up. He always came when she called his name. Sure enough a little meow rang out and something soft and purring rubbed against her legs. She bent down and picked him up and rubbed her nose against his. She balanced him on her hip and fell onto the sofa. She lazily turned the TV on and played channel surfing with the remote.

She chose to watch an anime that included a lot of swords, cards and for some reason, an elephant.

x-x-x-x-x-

Rikku, Paine and Leblanc stood in the lunch queue, the sound of lunch ladies clattering plates on the floor starting to put a melody into Rikku's head. She softly hummed it out loud.

"Oh dude, we should so start a band. Rikku and Yuna, the singers, Paine on bass, Baralai for the drums, and me and Gippal kicking ass on electric guitars!"

Paine and Rikku rolled their eyes at Tidus. Leblanc pouted.

"What about me?"

"Groupie."

Leblanc scowled at him. Tidus crossed his eyes at her. The familiar sound of hip hop came into life as Rikku's phone began ringing. She grabbed it immediately.

"Rikku!"

"Yo Yunie! Where you been?"

"Rikku, don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"About my-" Yuna checked herself. "Uh…"

"Yuna…? What's going on?"

"About your aunt?"

"My aunt? Yunie, I don't have an aunt. My dad's only sister was your mother."

Rikku softened her voice.

"Yuna, I thought you were over that."

"Rikku, shut up for a minute. I have big news."

"Really? Tell me!"

"Nope. I'm going to let _her_ tell you."

"Huh?"

Yuna hung up leaving Rikku scratching her head, wondering what Yuna had been smoking.

"Girl…"

x-x-x-x-x-

Gippal leaned against the wall, waiting for Merissa to come out. He stared, emotionless, whilst thinking deeply. Hearing the familiar sound of high heels, he ducked into the nearest classroom. He looked through a crack in the door and watched as Merissa went past.

"Phew."

He turned round and stopped in horror.

"Oh shi-"

The deafening sound of girls screaming sent him tumbling out of the door, and straight into Rikku.

"Waaa!!"

"Oops…whoa!"

Rikku fell onto the floor, with Gippal right on top of her. She kicked him off of her and looked to the door.

"Gippal…did you just walk out of the girls room?"

"Uh…no…"

x-x-x-x-x-

Lenne stepped through the door, and Yuna pounced on her.

"Can I go to the party?!"

"Yuna, for Christ sake, I just got through the door."

"Can I? Can I?!"

"Well, I don't know-"

"Please? PLEASE???"

"IF YOU WILL STOP BUGGING ME!!!"

"THANKYOU!!!"

"You know the rules right?"

"Uh…no drink and no drugs?"

"Yuna you're a teenager, you're supposed to get pissed at a party. But yeah on the drugs front. Just don't tell your dad I said that. Or your mom."

"Yeah…if she calls for me, can you tell her I'll speak to her tomorrow?"

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Leblanc's."

x-x-x-x-x-

Rikku zipped up the boots. She looked at herself in the mirror before turning to her friends.

"How about this?"

They looked at her. She was wearing a dark green tank top with a denim mini. She had straightened her hair and was wearing ankle length boots. Leblanc regarded her jealously. She looked gorgeous.

"You look great Rikku. Really."

Rikku smiled at Yuna. Yuna was wearing a long sleeved brown top with a dark red skirt that came just above her knees, and knee length boots. Paine had gone for a black tee and black jeans, with swearing written all along the legs.

Leblanc gently shoved Rikku out of the way of the mirror, and Rikku went flying onto the bed.

"Whoa!!"

Leblanc admired herself. She was wearing a tight mini dress that left nothing to the imagination. It was hot pink, like the high heels she was wobbling on.

"We are so ready for this party."

x-x-x-x-x-

As Yuna, Rikku, Paine and Leblanc walked up to house, each linking arms (much to Paine's dismay), one of the guys sitting on the porch decided to throw up the contents of his stomach on a patch of grass. Yuna and Rikku pulled faces, but Paine and Leblanc were unfazed.

As they entered the house they made their way to the kitchen were a large amount of alcohol stood, greeting them. They each helped themselves to a beer.

As they were opening them three girls walked in and a blonde bouncy one helped herself to a bottle.

"I'm jusht gonna get myshelf another drink!" she slurred, obviously haven enough already.

"Don't over do it Katie." The black haired one warned.

Yuna nodded to them, recognising Katie and Karu form cheerleading. They all started talking to each other and Rikku and Katie started a drinking contest. They opened their bottles and counted to three. Then they raced to see who could down it fastest. Yuna started scanning the place for Tidus; they had agreed to meet up at there.

x-x-x-x-x-

Yuna and Tidus slowly dancing whilst Ash and Paine were talking about their favourite bands and whether Benji or Joel was cuter.

"Aren't they twins?" Yuna asked, over Tidus's shoulder.

"That's not the point." Ash told her.

Rikku lurched up to them, completely out of her head, with Katie behind her. Katie tripped over her feet and Ash just managed to catch her.

"Man…you're heavy."

"Maybe you two should lay off the drink?" Yuna said.

They heard mean laughter coming from behind them. They turned to see Merissa.

"Well, I see you've found another bunch of losers to hang around with!"

She stood triumphantly with Gippal skulking behind her. Katie pushed herself out of Ash's arms, stood in front of Merissa and retched. Merissa didn't see it until Katie had thrown up all over her.

Merissa screamed in horror as her outfit became ruined. Yuna was crying with laughter as Ash and Paine were trying to hide theirs, and Rikku turned faintly greenish. Tidus started snorting and Baralai appeared with Nooj and Leblanc.

"Hello lovesssh!!"

They stopped and looked from Merissa to Katie and Baralai collapsed to the floor in laughter.

Merissa turned round to Gippal who was hiding his smirks behind his hand.

"Gippaaaal!!" Merissa wailed.

"Maybe you should go home…"

"Didn't you see that?! She did it on purpose!!"

"Oh yeah, coss you can ssso time when you're gonna puke!" Rikku put in sarcastically (but still slurring).

Rikku swayed and put a hand on Yuna's shoulder to steady herself.

"I'm…gonna go lie down…"

She staggered off into the crowd of dancing, swaying teenagers, and slumped down onto the nearest sofa. She closed her eyes and waited for the room to strop spinning.

"Having a good time honey? Want to make it even better?"

x-x-x-x-x-

Yuna was waiting in the queue for the toilet when she overheard a couple of girls' conversation.

"-yeah, and he's giving them out for free!"

"That blonde haired girl, she's had some, and she's like the life of the party!"

Yuna froze. She didn't like the sound of this. She immediately ducked out of the line and started running through the place.

"Rikku! Rikku?" she called out.

She crashed into a few people and stumbled into many walls. She cursed the alcohol in her body.

"Rikku!"

She heard laughter coming from the other room and barged into it. She found her cousin dancing and apparently about to take her top off.

"Go on love!" someone called out.

Yuna grabbed her cousin and whirled her round to face her. Several boos erupted form the largely male crowd.

"Rikku! What are you doing?!"

Rikku giggled at her. Yuna looked at her pupils. They were way larger than normal.

"Rikku?"

Yuna gaped at her cousin in horror.

**A/N Eep; that was a long wait. No thankyous for today, I'm in a rush. But cookies for all who reviewed. So, please review. **


	10. So, did you do it?

**A/N (points and laughs) Yes… (Laughs some more) Oh yeah, I was kinda hoping that people wouldn't pick up on the no pupils thing…but you did. (Evil glare) Oh, and my year head now hates me. Just cos I bunked assembly. He actually phoned my parents. How gay? How much does school suck?**

* * *

Yuna stared at her cousin in a mixture of horror and disgust. She shook her head and began leading Rikku away. Ignoring the high pitched laughs, she took her to her friends and looked at them. 

"Help!" she squeaked. Ash, Karu and Katie had gone somewhere, and now just Tidus, Paine, Gippal and Baralai where left. They all exchanged frightened looks and tried to focus on Rikku.

"Uh…throw some water on her!"

"No, give her the water!"

"Don't you watch TV! That'll kill her! Give her fries instead!"

"Are you _trying_ to be stupid! I say we take her to hospital!"

"What, and get us all grounded?"

"Er, I'm sorry; I thought Rikku was more important than being grounded!"

"Look, she probably only took one pill. We should take her home and let her sleep."

"Thankyou Paine, something sensible."

"But what about Cid and Brother? What are they gonna do!"

"Keep her over at your house!"

"Baralai, have you lost your mind?"

"Why not? C'mon Gippal, you're her friend; you were _almost _her boyfriend-"

"Don't rub it in."

"-And you live right next door to her!"

"Yeah, but Yuna's her cousin, she's blood related!"

"True. And she won't try any perverted sex stuff with her."

"What! And I would?"

"Well…"

"No, stop! Don't finish that sentence!"

"I'm just saying, we all know what you're capable of Gippal."

"I don't believe this."

"Don't take it like that, I'm just saying."

"Guys-"

"Just saying what! So, you all think I'm some kinda creepy perv?"

"Er, hello-"

"No, but you did go with Merissa. The bitch."

"Look-"

"Yeah, alright, like I don't feel bad enough. Just shut up about her, ok!"

"Will _you_ shut up? Rikku's gone!"

* * *

Rikku laughed to herself as she walked out the door. She felt good, she felt happy. It had been a while since she felt this carefree. Not since before Merissa. She threw her arms in the air and wooped. 

"Yeah! I'm the life of the party!" she yelled. She laughed hysterically.

"Yeah." A voice drawled. "You sure are baby. Need some company?"

"Me? No thanks. I'm fiiiine!" she slurred.

"I wasn't asking." The voice said. A tall, somewhat creepy looking guy stepped out of the shadows and walked up to her. He had dyed blue hair, gelled up in one of the weirdest hairstyles Rikku had ever seen, but at the moment he could look like a chocobo crossed with a moogle and she wouldn't have noticed.

"Well that's ok, you can ask now and I'll tell you no."

"I don't think you get this-"

"Hey, why don't you back off dude?" Gippal stepped up to him, followed by the other four panting teenagers, having just ran out to find Rikku.

"Why don't you make me?"

"Don't I know you?" Tidus started. The guy twirled round to face him.

"Holy shit…"

"Whoa…did anyone tell you are a dead ringer for Seymour Guado?"

"Hey thanks! I'm one my way to a convention. I thought I'd practice my menacing tactics on your friend here. But she seems too out of it to realise what I'm quoting."

"Heheheh…yup, that's Rikku alright."

"Well, I'll see you guys later. Bye!"

"Am I dreaming? Or is this just a really messed up town?" Paine put her hand on Baralai's arm.

"It's a messed up town." She said softly. The two held eye contact together, and seemed oblivious to the other people around them. Gippal wandered up to them.

"Seriously you two, you could hack the sexual tension here with a chainsaw."

* * *

"Here." Yuna said, handing an ice pack for Gippal to put on his cheek. She walked over to where Rikku was sleeping on her bed. 

"Poor Rikku, she looks so peaceful now."

"She probably wore herself out laughing." Tidus said. Paine and Baralai had long since walked to their homes together. Or at least to one home.

"So…you think they're doing it?"

"Gippal, that's why Paine hit you in the first place."

"Yeah, but seriously. Do you?"

"No. I don't know. I don't _wanna_ know!"

"Hey, out of us lot, who do you think would be the first two to have sex?"

"You and Rikku, definitely." Yuna interrupted. Gippal made a face.

"We're not even dating." He muttered.

"Look, shut up and get in your sleeping bags. I can't believe I gave my bed up for her."

"Yeah, you're too nice Yuna." Gippal said sarcastically.

"Hey punk, that's my girlfriend."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, are you two sharing a sleeping bag?"

"In case you didn't notice Gippal, you got one, and there's only one left."

"Will you two shut up, you'll wake Lenne."

"No they won't!" They heard Shuyin yell.

"Ack! They're doing it again!" Yuna cried. Tidus laughed and switched off the lamp.

* * *

Rikku blearily opened her eyes, and focused on the room. She recognised it as Yuna's, and cursed her for not having thicker curtains. She pulled the covers over her head. 

"Eugh…sick…feel…" she groaned.

"Morning princess." She heard a familiar voice say.

"Gippal? Why are you in Yuna's room?"

"Same reason as Yuna and Tidus are sharing a sleeping bag for. I'm trying to sleep." Rikku groggily pulled her head from under the covers.

"What's time?"

"Uh…don't know. You're near the clock, what's it say?"

"Well…" Rikku studied the clock. "…numbers." she concluded.

"Great."

"Ugh…my head."

"Yeah you were wasted. Then stoned. Then hit on by a Seymour Guado look-alike."

"Eww."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Shut up you two." They heard Yuna groan. Tidus turned over to face her.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey." She replied.

"Puke. Can you two get any more sickening?"

"They're saying 'hey' Gippal. How is that sickening?"

"It is when they wake up together. All in that soft, quiet voice."

"I think it's sweet."

"You think toads are sweet."

"Aww, look! They're kissing!"

"Oh great, it just got even more romantic."

"Shut up, you're spoiling their mood."

"What, they get a mood and we don't?"

"Not if you're like that, no."

"Oh, c'mon."

"You c'mon."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Neither does you face."

"…shoulda seen that."

"Yes, you should of. Now shut up."

"Can I get a kiss?"

"I dunno, Tidus might not like it."

"I meant from you."

"Oh…last time I kissed you you didn't seem too happy."

"We were three years old."

"Yeah, you weren't so horny then."

"Shut up Tidus. Carry on making out with your girlfriend, don't mind us."

"Kiss him Rikku! You know you want to."

"Ya know, I kinda don't."

"Go on, kiss, kiss, kiss!"

"Fine." Rikku said, grudgingly. She leaned over the side of the bed and kissed Gippal. Tidus and Yuna wooped.

"Get in there!" Tidus said.

"Tidus!"

"What? Baralai and Paine are doing it, why cant they?"

"Baralai and Paine are not doing it!"

"Sure they're not, Yuna."

"Oh my god, my boyfriends an idiot."

"You only just worked that out?" Gippal asked.

"Kiss her again. Dare you to."

"I think I'll throw up in his mouth if we do." They all looked at Gippal.

"I'm willing to take that chance."

"Oh, gross!"

"Go on Rikku, kiss him again!"

"Shame Baralai and Paine are too busy doing it, look what they're missing!"

"They're not-"

"Whatever."

"Look, Paine isn't stupid enough to do it yet. And besides, she and Baralai are just friends."

"So were you and Tidus."

"And Rikku and Gippal."

"Yeah, but Paine and Baralai? I mean, I always imagined Paine with some heavy punk rocker."

"Or gothic dude."

"Or an accountant." Rikku added happily.

"What!"

"An accountant?"

"Think about it. Paine can beat him up and get him to do obey her every command."

"She can do that anyway."

"Yeah but-" Yuna began, but was soon interrupted by Lenne throwing open the door.

"It's six AM." She growled. "Some of us are trying to _sleep_."

"Oh yeah," Yuna snorted. "Like you _aren't _doing it with Shuyin."

"Like Paine and Baralai."

"They are not-"

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

Yuna poured the water down her dry throat, and prepared herself for meeting her mother again. Lenne had driven her down with Tidus. 

"It'll be ok. I mean, it is just your mom."

"My mom who I haven't seen in years."

"You saw her the other day…"

"But that wasn't at her apartment." Yuna muttered. She finished off the rest of the water, and knocked on the door that lay before her. She counted 10 seconds before her mother opened the door. She was wearing a blue halter neck top and trendy black shorts. Yuna made a mental note to borrow some of her clothes.

"Hey honey!" she cried, and wrapped her arms around Yuna.

"Hey mom. H-how are you?" Yuna stammered.

"Me? Fine. You? Oh…who's this?" she asked, pointing to Tidus behind her.

"Oh, er, this is Tidus. Um, I hope you don't mind. He's my, er, he's my-"

"I'm her boyfriend." Tidus finished for her. Yuna looked at Rinoa anxiously, not sure how she'd take it.

"That's great!" she said. Yuna heaved a sigh of relief. "You can meet mine too!"

"Y-yours?"

"Yup! Yo, Squall; I want you to meet someone!" Yuna froze, and felt her body go numb. She hadn't realised her mother might have a boyfriend. She fleetingly thought of her father, and wondered if he knew.

"You have a boyfriend?" she asked quietly. She felt Tidus squeeze her hand. Her mother excused herself to go find him.

"You ok?" Tidus whispered.

"Uh…not sure…I…I didn't think…" she trailed off. Her mother had walked back to them, dragging a reluctant looking man. The first thing Yuna noticed about him was the scar on his forehead, then the way he gelled up his hair, then the way he just looked away, not acknowledging them.

"This is Squall. Honey, this is my daughter, Yuna." Squall nodded to her. Yuna just looked at him, dumbstruck.

"Er…I'm Yuna's boyfriend, Tidus. Pleased to meet you…" he said, extending his hand. Squall seemed to sigh before shaking it.

"Where's dad?" Yuna blurted out. Rinoa gave her a strange look.

"How would I know? I don't live with him, remember?"

"Well, yeah but…" Yuna started nibbling on her nail, blushing. "I just thought." She said lamely.

"Er…Yuna's a bit tired. We were out late last night. All of us I mean, not just us two. You'll, uh, have to excuse her."

"That's ok. You'll have to excuse him." Rinoa said, jerking her thumb at Squall. "He's not very good at meeting new people. You should have seen what he was like when I first met him!"

"Excuse me. I've got work." Squall interrupted.

"Bye sweetie." Rinoa said, leaning up to kiss him. Yuna resented this. She didn't go up and kiss Tidus in front of _her_. And if she did, her mother would probably not like it.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I'm going back to Lenne, so you two can bond. See ya later!"

"What? You didn't say that in the car…" Yuna said, as Tidus hugged her.

"Bye Tidus!" Rinoa called. She turned back to Yuna. "Ok, I got movies with cute guys, I got clothes, I got unlimited credit cards. Which first?" in spite of herself, Yuna felt a grin coming on.

"Unlimited credit cards, huh?"

* * *

"Here." Rikku said, slamming a glass of orange in front of Gippal. 

"You know, you can break those things."

"Not likely. I've tried."

"What did I do wrong now?" Gippal groaned. Rikku turned and glared at him.

"You made me kiss you. _Twice_."

"No Rikku, _you_ made you kiss me. I merely encouraged it."

"Well encourage my ass."

"I've tried."

"Banjand!" Rikku hissed. Gippal sighed and tipped the drink down his throat. No point in making her madder.

"Thanks." He said. Rikku snorted rudely, and flicked her hair over her shoulder. Gippal stopped short of rolling his eyes. "Look, I think I'm gong go see if Paine and Baralai really_ were_ doing it, you gonna come or stay mad at me here." Rikku paused.

"I think I'll stay here."

"Get off your lazy ass."

"No deal."

"Just come on." Rikku sighed.

"No." She said.

"I'll give you a piggy back over there."

"You'll be piggy back-ing me for a long walk."

"Yeah, well I'll piggy back you to the bus stop."

"Fine."

* * *

Paine put down her book and glanced over at her sister. 

"Hey, Lu, where's Wakka?" Lulu put down the pen she'd been writing with.

"He's working an extra shift today."

"On a Saturday?"

"Kinoc's a slave driver." Paine grunted, and squinted her eyes at the sun. She and Lulu were hanging out in their back yard, Paine reading and Lulu furiously writing a draft for her next report.

"What do you think of this as a title, 'Teenage kicks make OAPs sick'?"

"Nice, I'm sure the editor will love it."

"Yeah, and maybe the OAPs will lighten up for once."

"Lulu, you're a good writer, but you're not a miracle worker."

"I'll keep that in mind." Lulu said, laughing a little.

"Yo, Dr P!" a voice yelled, bringing them both back to the real world and out of their haven of peace. Lulu sighed.

"Keep them inside will you? I can't work with loud teenagers bugging me."

"You're not that much older than us."

"I'm 21, you're 15. It's good enough for me." Paine grunted again at her sister's remark, and went into the house to find two of her friends grinning mischievously at her.

"Oh, what do you two want?"

"It's not what we want, more what Baralai wants."

"That don't make sense Rikku. What did we agree on? Let _me_ do the talking."

"Look, make it quick alright? What about Baralai?"

"Oh, nothin', you two just seemed kinda…close last night."

"What are you getting at Gippal?"

"Did you and Baralai do it?" Rikku burst out. Gippal smacked his head, and Paine started at her coldly.

"You have 10 seconds to get out."

"Is that a yes?"

"No, and even if it was, it would be none of your business. 9 seconds."

"Aw, c'mon, we just wanna know."

"8."

"Oh, let's just go ask Baralai, he might be a bit more helpful."

"7."

"Fine. See you then Dr P."

"6."

* * *

Yuna practically collapsed on Rinoa's sofa, dropping her shopping bags on the way. 

"I think my feet are bleeding, they're defiantly dead."

"Mine too. Let's not go walking for a while. Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure. Bung one in then." Rinoa smiled, and reached across to the VCR. She shoved a tape in, and flopped next to her daughter. Yuna took the time to study her mother. She was a lot younger than her dad was. Maybe ten years or so. Braska had always said the age gap hadn't mattered to them, but Yuna began to doubt this.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You and dad, did you break up because of the age gap?" Yuna asked. Rinoa paused for a moment, considering this.

"No," she said eventually, "no, I don't think so. At least, not just that. Me and your dad just wanted different things, I wanted to live in the city, him the suburbs. I wanted to throw parties and show you off; he wanted to keep things quiet so you wouldn't get disturbed. And eventually, we just fell out of love. Like, you remember you had that Barbie? The one with the wings? You _loved_ that thing."

"I'm kinda old for Barbie's mom…"

"Shut up, I'm making a point. And then we got you that dolls house? You loved the dolls house. Forgot all about poor old Barbie, threw her under your bed. Well, it's like that. I mean, I still love Braska, just not in _that_ way."

"I guess…"

"Now it's my turn to ask a question. Do you mind me being her? I mean, you had Lenne and everything as a mother, do you mind having me back?"

"What? Are you _crazy_? Finding you again is one of the best things to happen to me! I thought you were dead! And Lenne's more like a sister. Actually, it's kinda like I got two moms…and you know what they say, two is better than one."

"Yeah, but that's what they say when they're talking about heads."

"Well you've both got heads, haven't you?"

"I s'pose…now for my second question-"

"I didn't get two questions."

"Shut up. What do you think of Squall?" Yuna felt her throat go dry. This was the question she'd been dreading.

"Squall?" she croaked. "Uh…he seems fine. Maybe a little…ya know…distant, but fine."

"Are you sure?"

"U-uh huh. Perfectly." Yuna stammered.

"Great. Because you know, you can tell me anything. Even if you think I won't like it. It's part of my job."

"What's your real job?"

"I work in fashion."

"Seriously! Oh, you are so helping me pick out a prom dress one of these days." Rinoa laughed.

"I sure will sweetie."

* * *

"C'mon Baralai. Just tell us!" 

"No I did not sleep with Paine, nor do I _plan_ to!"

"Why not?"

"Because she's not my girlfriend!"

"Oh, yeah right!" Gippal said. Rikku looked at Baralai.

"Do you wish she was your girlfriend?"

"What? No, I uh…well…I –what has this got to do with anything anyway!"

"Nothing. I think you just answered her question." Gippal said, grinning.

"I'll ask her out for you!" Rikku yelped, running out of his door and down the road back to Paine's.

"Oh god, no, stop her will you?"

"Sorry, can't be done." Baralai turned back to Gippal with pleading eyes, but he just shook his head. Baralai sighed.

"Well, I guess she had to find out sometime."

"No worries dude, haven't you _seen_ the way she looks at you?"

"How?"

"Same way as you look at her."

**

* * *

Aw, slight bit of fluff, yeah. What Gippal just said was meant to be kinda sweet/romantic, so please, REALISE the hints I'm dropping for those two. And don't complain at me that there's not enough Paine/Baralai because I'm working on them, and if anyone _dares _to criticise the Rippalness, I shall remind you that I am I control of this story, and shall immediately change it to Rikku/Nooj, so just watch out. I shall even go far enough to kill my beloved Gippy, so THERE. Oh and, Green Day rule! Who agrees? **

**Review please, and thank you all for reading!**


	11. I love being in love

**Good gravy and mash potatoes. How long has it been? I don't know. I don't really care either. I have no excuse; I'm just a lazy bitch. Besides, I DEALT WITH REJECTION AND HEARTBREAK, AND I GOT A MASSIVE CHOCOLATE BAR. I want to smack the heartbreaker with it, but I'll settle with eating it instead. This said, it gave me some… inspiration… for this pile of crapola we call… a story... ooh, aaah!**

**Ok, it has been one year since the last chapter. Ok? Good. Oh and in Spira, when you're 16 you can drive and wonder around on holiday without parental advisory. If you get me. And 16 is legal. If you get me again. Same as it is here (unless you live somewhere where 18 is in fact the legal age). Yeah, implied sexual-ness, because their teenagers, and that's life. And sex is obviously a part of it. So if you don't like, I'm sorry, but it's here. I really do love you readers so much (even those who don't review), so I'm gonna work really hard on this now.**

…..:……

Six teenagers sat crammed in the back of an old beat up convertible, Gippal at the wheel. The other five feared for their safety until Yuna forced Gippal to let Baralai drive.

"Turn the radio on Lai."

"…Gippal…you're _right_ next to me. _You _can turn it on."

"But then I'd have to move my hand…" Gippal whined. Paine rolled her eyes, decided to be the voice of reason.

"Gippal, first off, Baralai's driving, he can't just stop whenever he feels like it. That's why you're not allowed to drive," Gippal pouted, doing his puppy dog face which made Rikku squeal, "And second, it doesn't take long to drop your girlfriends hand to switch on the radio."

Yuna watched uninterestedly, wondering why she'd agreed to go on holiday with everyone. She remorsefully reflected on how she could be in Zanarkand with her mum, shopping to her hearts content and visiting every tourist attraction in the state. A year had gone by since first meeting her mother again, and she wished she were the one going, instead of Squall. Don't get her wrong, she had grown surprisingly fond of Squall since the initial shock, but he didn't even like shopping. She just felt it was such a waste.

"You know, now we're finally all sixteen," Tidus spoke up, looking at Rikku pointedly, as if it were her fault for being the youngest. Rikku gave a squeak of indignation at this. "We're all older and more mature than before. So I think we should have a competition to see who has sex first!" Everyone in the car groaned, even Gippal.

"What was that you said about being more mature?" Baralai asked him. He glanced over his shoulder at Paine, and smiled gently at her. "You ok?" he asked. Paine smiled at him.

"I was sick over an hour ago, I'm fine now. I've felt fine ever since Gippal stopped driving."

"Just making sure…" Baralai said. Rikku smiled.

"Aren't they sweet?" she asked Yuna. Yuna just grunted in reply. "Hey, what's up Yunie? Aren't you having fun?"

"Yeah…" she said, without much emotion. Tidus looked over at her worriedly, feeling a pang of sadness that was starting to become familiar to him. Over the year, everyone had worked out all their problems; everything was just the six of them having fun and being in love. True, their used to be seven, but after the initial shock of Leblanc and Nooj becoming teenage parents, everything had settled down, and there had been a countdown to summer. This summer. The one they were enjoying right now. Or supposed to have been…

Tidus and Rikku exchanged a glance. Being the closest of the group to Yuna, they had started to notice something odd with her, over the last couple of weeks. Like the way she only wanted to hang out as a group. The way she'd skirt around subjects that usually they could spend hours discussing when it was just the girls, like the latest romantic thing Tidus did/said/didn't do. The way she studied fiercely for hours on end, rather than spend some alone time with Tidus. Was she too mature for them now? Tidus had been pretty immature back then, but hey, he was joking. Didn't she even have a sense of humour?

"I'm singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!" Gippal bellowed out, successfully breaking the tension, and almost making Baralai drive over a cat. "Watch it Lai!" he scolded. Baralai ignored him, and muttered harsh death threats under his breath instead. "Bathroom break!" Rikku screeched, seeing a nearby café and deciding to take advantage of it. "Park, park, park!"

"Where!" Baralai screamed in response.

"There!" Rikku yelled, yanking her arm from Gippal's grasp and jabbing it in front of Baralai's face, pointing to a small space.

"After this, I'll take over driving from you, Lai." Yuna snapped, catching herself and adding pleasantly, "I mean, if you want a break." Baralai nodded, his eyes wide with surprise at her sudden outburst. Rikku noticed, and a little too cheerfully skipped to the front door and pushed it open forcefully, so hard the bell atop it screamed like it was being beaten with a stick. She bounced her way up to the counter and said brightly, "Five regular coffees and a strawberry milkshake please!" Gippal slunk up beside her and hissed, "We're not in McDonalds you know."

"They'll sell 'em. Don't worry; Paine's getting that milkshake no matter what. We are not depriving her of her sugar. Not after last time." She muttered darkly.

"Coming right up sweetheart!" sang the joyful, candy-flossed-haired, woman serving. Gippal snaked his arm around Rikku's waist and planted soft kisses up her neck. "You look gorgeous," he whispered, pulling her closer and breathing in her scent. Rikku felt a lot of fluttering in her chest, and a plucking in her stomach. She'd been feeling this way a lot with Gippal lately. She felt her breath shortening and gently pushed him away. "Not in public!" she squeaked. She was really starting to consider taking their relationship further. She was starting to lose control and become flooded with her feelings about him. She pushed her desire deep down, and focused on watching candy-floss head make coffee. _'Don't think about him, don't think about him, don't think about him…'_ was the constant stream of thought in her head. But she slid her glance to him, and he looked just as flustered as she. She was jolted out of the certain unclean fantasy she'd been indulging in lately, as Yuna She was jolted out of the certain unclean fantasy she'd been indulging in lately, as Yuna came up beside her. "Can we talk?" she mumbled. Rikku nodded, glanced back one last time at Gippal, and followed Yuna into the Ladies.

Yuna climbed onto the window ledge above the sinks and fidgeted with her hands. Rikku lept up next to her, and put her hand on Yuna's arm. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"I… I'm nervous… really nervous. Rikku… do you ever think about… sex?" Yuna stammered out. _'Oh boy, if only she'd read my mind back then,'_ Rikku thought. She coughed awkwardly. "Yes," she said eventually. "Yeah I do. When I'm with Gippal, and you know… things… heat up."

"Do you… think you're ready?"

"Oh God, I don't know… sometimes. But, that's usually when I get caught up in the moment. What if I regretted it later?"

"Yeah… I don't think I'm ready. I love Tidus. I really, really do. But this whole trip seems like the moment for everyone. And I don't want that moment yet! I don't." Yuna coughed, and quickly looked back down, gaining her composure.

"Yunie! You don't have to be! Of course this isn't the moment! It's just a trip. And you know Tidus will wait. He'd never push you into something!"

"But what he said before-"

"Well he's still a moron. He was just joking. Really, he was. Don't get so worked up Yunie, the only time you have to… um, do it… is when you're ready." Rikku said. Yuna stared at her cousin. She was surprisingly mature about these things. Two years ago, they'd have broken down into hysterics anytime sex was mentioned. Or be mortified beyond belief. _'Growing up'_ Yuna thought, smiling at her younger cousin. "Now come on. You can do the dirty with Tidus whenever you want. Let's go get coffee!" Rikku instructed. _'Then again…' _Yuna thought, rolling her eyes. She jolted when Rikku abruptly stopped in front of her. "Is that why you've been distancing yourself from Tidus? And why you wanted to drive?" Yuna nodded guiltily. "Well never mind… Tidus will sit up front with you, and me and Gippal will take your seats," she said, an ulterior motive already set in her mind.

…..:……

Yuna steered around the corner, and glanced quickly at Tidus. He was looking back at her. '"Hey,' he said. 'Hey," she responded. She smiled bashfully, and he leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. "I missed you," he whispered. "I didn't go anywhere."

"I know. But I missed _you_." She smiled, and glanced in the rear-view mirror. She saw Baralai and Paine's uncomfortable expressions at being in the back, with the heavily making out Al Bheds next to them. Yuna caught Gippal's hand playing with Rikku's bra. "Ahem! Keep it modest now kiddies," she scolded, but, typically, they went on and ignored her. Paine tried to form a barrier between herself and them by placing her bag next to her, but it had very little effect. Those two were an unstoppable force at the moment. Yuna braked suddenly, throwing Rikku off of Gippal's lips with a cry of protest from both. "I thought that would stop you. We're at the hotel. Time to dump our bags and start having fun!" she said. Gippal smirked. "And not the kind of fun those two want," she added, parking the car and turning off the engine. She unbuckled her seat belt, and reached for the car door when it was thrown open for her, by a grinning Tidus. "M'lady," he said, putting on his upper-class voice. _'Is he trying to be romantic? Or just stupid?'_ Yuna wondered. Still, he smiled and held out her hand. He leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him quickly. She was still nervous about everything that could, and probably would, develop. It all seemed so scary and adult for her. Still, she smiled brightly at him, and told him to carry her bags to the hotel. Rikku followed her example and told Gippal to do the same. Unlike Tidus, who smiled and did it like a good little boy, Gippal felt the need to whine until she kicked him in the shin.

…..:……

Paine sat on the bed she had chosen and surveyed the room. It was big. No, big didn't even begin to describe it. It was massive! Cid really outdid himself. Rikku had told Paine why her dad offered to pay for two luxurious rooms for everyone; Paine had assumed he was being nice. How naive of her. Cid had paid for these rooms, so his sweet little girl didn't get up to any hanky-panky, and stayed with the girls in their (very) separate room, in her (very) singular bed. Paine snorted. Like that would stop them. If the journey over here had been any indication, if those two wanted to be with each other, a mere wall would never stop them. Paine stopped her train of thought there, as a disturbing image, involving an electric drill, came into her mind. She shuddered, and made a mental note to check for holes in the wall before she went to bed that night. She reached under the bed, and pulled out her suitcase. She rifled through, before her fingers collided with cool plastic, and then bristles. She yanked out her hairbrush, and ran it through her shoulder length hair. She couldn't believe she'd let her hair grow this long, but Baralai told her he liked it. She brushed her long fringe to the side, and it fell over part of her right eye, framing her face prettily. She looked at it miserably, still feeling horribly self conscious over her stupid hair. She turned away from the mirror, and glanced up as Rikku came in from the toilet. Yuna sprinted in after her, eager to take a long shower and clean herself up. Paine smiled. She looked back at Rikku. "You look nice," she commented.

Rikku glanced at her, before looking at her reflection innocently. She'd only put her hair up. Did she look that different? "I do?" she asked, frowning.

"Yes. You should wear you hair like that more often." Rikku grinned. "Look whose talking! Don't cut your hair again. It looks great like that." Paine looked disbelievingly at her, but what else was new. Rikku just rolled her eyes. So mistrusting. She took out a blue, shoulder less dress, and a pair of cute trainers. She flung off her towel, and Paine immediately went to bring her hands over her eyes, but then realised she was wearing underwear. "Jesus Rikku, have a little modesty!"

"I'm wearing a bra," Rikku mumbled. She slipped the dress on, and collapsed next to Paine, who had been the first in the shower, as always. As soon as Yuna was done, they were in for some sightseeing, followed by fancy restaurants, followed by some night life fun, followed by bed. Possibly.

"Rikku… you and Gippal… are you thinking about sex yet?" Paine asked. Rikku blushed.

"Sort of. We haven't really talked about it, but I think we'll have to soon."

"Yes… just make sure you're completely ready. And protected."

"Sex ed from Dr P? Don't you sound clued up."

"Mmm."

"Oh my God… are you saying… when?"

"My birthday. I'm not going into details though Rikku." Rikku pouted and looked at her friend's stern expression. She meant it.

…..:……

"Woo-hoo party!" Rikku cheered.

"No," Yuna laughed, "Woo-hoo Luca Stadium. First up, the blitz game. It's the Zanarkand Abes v. Luca Goers. A home match!" Rikku shrugged her shoulders. If she got bored, Gippal could always entertain her. She hummed happily, drawn back into her own world once again. Yuna felt Tidus's warm hand slip into hers, and she smiled down at it, and looked up at his face, and smiled wider. He grinned back at her, and then glanced shyly down. "I want to talk to you later." He sounded serious, and Yuna swallowed, worried about what it was. She shakily smiled, and hastily said, "Yeah, later. Let's just have fun now though." He nodded at her, and grinned again, before leaning in to kiss her properly. Whether she liked it or not. And she did. She'd missed that contact, of his warm lips on hers. She slipped her tongue in his mouth and deepened the kiss, enjoying every second. The broke apart and Tidus wrapped his arms around her. "Isn't it romantic by the sea?"

"Wait till it gets dark," he said, chuckling. "Then see the lights reflecting off the water. I want to see them reflect in your eyes," He said dreamily, half to himself. Yuna buried herself deeper into his arms. He was the most romantic thing here. She loved him so much. She reached up and stroked his cheek, kissing his chin. _'I love being in love…'_

…..:……

**Ok, wow, got this done a lot quicker than I thought I would. It's considerably shorter than my other chapters, but hey, whatcha gonna do eh? Please review and gimme your thoughts on it. I'll accept flames too; I wish to feed them to my dragon. I have called him George (Geddit? Geddit? St George the dragon slayer…? Oh forget it). Construct your criticisms and send them my way. But I also love those ones where you go, 'I love this story! I worship you! Please marry me and be my bitch!'. Ok I don't get many of those but they would be appreciated too.**


	12. Two weddings and a funnel

**Ooh it's actually been over a year has it? Blimey I don't know why you put up with me. Maybe you don't. Ah well. Writings fun so I'm writing. I DON'T CARE IF NO ONE READS IT! No that's not true at all you know I love being read (ooer). So it's time for some writing! I re-read my last chapter and wow was it a different direction than the one I'd previously envisioned (big words; I know). Let's try and make it a bit lighter this time hmm?**

…**:… ****Two weddings and a funnel**** …:…**

Tidus gently took Yuna's hand and led her away from their friends. He took her out onto the hotel balcony, and they looked up at the stars for a moment. The air hummed with sickly sweet summer scents. He could feel his palms sweating, so he shoved them in his pockets, before taking a deep breath and turning to her. "Yuna, about earlier… when I was saying we needed to talk…"

"Yes?" she hesitantly replied, dragging her gaze away from the deep sky. He smiled nervously, and looked straight into her eyes.

"There's no one I will, or ever could, love more than you, Yuna. You're my world. And when we're both older, and the time is right… Jesus this is hard… will you marry me... one day?" Tidus looked down at his knees, and realised they were shaking. He exhaled deeply, and went to look back up at Yuna, only to find thin air. He did a double take and stopped in complete shock, before swirling round to find his one and only emptying her stomach on the nearby plants. Yuna wiped her mouth and stood up, mortified at spoiling the moment. Nothing said I love you like vomit! Tidus was frozen to the spot, and could only glance helplessly at the insects buzzing round them. After what seemed like forever, he cleared his throat and croaked, "Is that a no?"

Yuna stared at him and began to open her mouth. Either a declaration of love would come out, or even more of her lunchtime salmon sandwich. "God, I thought… well I thought… I don't know what I thought, but I wasn't expecting that! God I suppose I will! I mean I will… one day… I mean yes, why not… I mean yes, just yes!" Yuna blurted, secretly wishing she'd just vomited instead and saved herself the humiliation of speaking. But she smiled slowly, a genuine smile and whispered, "Yes," once more.

For Tidus it felt like everything froze for a moment, a perfect moment; the air was still, the buzz of life had stopped for a while and Yuna's smile just seemed to stay framed, like a picture on his wall. Then everything whizzed back and hit him, making him take a step backwards. His ears were ringing, his heart was thudding, and he was aware that his cheeks were wet. For once there was no one mocking him for crying, and he basked in the rush of love he felt for her.

He flew forwards to kiss her, before remembering what a bad idea that would be, and quickly changed the moment into an awkward hug instead. Yuna did notice but decided to let him get away with it. She felt a bit stupid, but it was nothing against how happy she felt. She squeezed Tidus, and decided to get something off her chest that had been bothering her for a while.

"I have to say something," she started. Tidus broke away and looked at her, doing his best to look serious, but his eyes were dancing, and he brushed a tear away from her eyes. Yuna started, not even noticing she'd been crying. She took a deep breath. "I've been a total bitch to you," she stated. She waited for Tidus to deny it, and lightly hit him when he didn't. "Ow! You said it!" he protested. Yuna carried on.

"It's only fair you know why. I love you, Tidus. I really do. But… I know that there's a place… or a time… where everyone you know… gets to… and I'm not…" she trailed off weakly.

"Yuna… are you talking about sex?"

"Maybe…" she mumbled. "It's just that… well… I don't… I'm not… I can't…"

"Yuna I'm not ready for it either. It's alright. We're getting married some day! That's all I care about. Honestly, you didn't need to assault me for that! Jeez, you women! Ow!" he cried, when Yuna hit him again, just for being sexist. She stopped joking and looked at him.

"You're not then?"

"No."

"Good… ok... now, what sort of ring will you be buying me?"

...:…

Yuna sat on her single bed, serenely brushing her hair, whilst breathing in the scent of Tidus' blitzball hoodie she was wearing. She smiled to herself; it smelt just like him. She put the hairbrush down on the table next to her bed, and 'ruffed' the bottom of her hair up; just to give it some 'flick-a-bility', as Rikku would say. She also gently rubbed her ears, from all the excited screaming she'd received when she had rang and told Lenne and her mother of her news. Rinoa all but chose her wedding dress out for her, before Yuna reminded her that it was still a few years away. She giggled happily to herself, and Paine looked over and smiled.

"Feeling better now?" she asked.

"Much," Yuna replied. Rikku, who had been painting her toenails a fetching colour of lime green with lemon yellow dots, looked up and smiled mischievously.

"She's leaving the bitch-queen-from-hell act up to you again Paine," she remarked. Paine hurled the cushion she'd been holding right onto Rikku's handy-work, completely ruining the green and yellow masterpiece. Rikku shrieked unhappily and threw the pillow straight back at Paine's head. Yuna smiled to herself again, grabbed her camera and took a quick photo of her two best girl friends fighting. She decided to make an album when they got back home. Realising that she'd been snapped, Paine chucked pillow over at Yuna. The all scrambled together on Yuna's bed, play fighting, when a knock at the door silenced them all. Rikku put her finger to her lips and untangled herself from them, dropped to the floor and crawled stealthily on the peachy-cream carpet to the door. She hoisted herself up and peeked through the eye hole. She studied the people outside for a while before twirling round and tip toeing back to the other girls.

"S'alright," she said loudly, making Yuna jump and Paine frown, "only the boys outside. Baralai looks annoyed, Gippal looks naughty and Tidus looks like he's wearing makeup," she announced.

"I AM wearing makeup!" Tidus' voice came through the door.

"Let us in, we bring gifts!"

"Ssh Gippal don't say that, they'll expect something then!"

"Whatever Tidus, I just want to see what Dr P looks like in her pajamas!" Gippal shouted. Paine leapt up and ripped open the door, in time to see Baralai smack Gippal in the face, and to land in a punch of her own. Gippal moaned and crawled in, mewing pathetically to Rikku, for love and affection, but receiving a slap to go with the bruises that would be appearing on his face in the morning. Yuna tried to desperately shush them all, for fear of disturbing the other guests and getting chucked out of the hotel all together. Gippal just smirked at her and leaned against Rikku's legs, draped over her bed, from the floor, relaxing, happy enough just to look at the ceiling.

"I hope you will become more mature one day Gippal." Baralai frowned at his now peaceful friend.

"I've already started becoming more mature. Look, normally I'd be trying to see how long it took me to undo Rikku's bra, but here I am, just sitting here enjoying the company of you lovely people." He smiled at them all, and settled back done, pleased with his response. Until Baralai pointed out that he wasn't mature enough not to mention Rikku's bra without grinning stupidly, but Gippal decided to ignore this anyway.

Baralai went and settled sensibly in a comfortable chair, a respectable distance away from Paine's bed, while Tidus sprawled on Rikku's bed and began playing with her hair, whilst smiling all the time at Yuna. Yuna smiled back and sat next to him, joining him in putting fat little plaits in Rikku's long hair. Rikku glanced over her shoulder at them, and smiled at her cousin's obvious happiness.

"Who gets to be bride's maid?" she asked.

"You of course, Rikku. You and Paine."

"Who gets to be best man?" asked Gippal.

"Well," said Tidus, "I was thinking of asking Paine, but now it seems she has another position." Tidus laughed, and ducked as Paine threw her shoe at him. He tutted at her, and scolded her for being violent. Rikku jumped up suddenly, scaring all those on and beside her bed, and switched the hotel TV on, ignoring a few friends' protests. "Ssh!" she cried, "I want to know the results of the blitz game!"

"There was a blitz match?!" Tidus yelped. He sat bolt upright and stared hard at the screen, watching the scores between the Zanarkand Abes and the Guado Glories. He might not have said as much, but Yuna knew that Tidus wanted to play for the Abes one day. And she believed he would. She slipped her hand into his. It reminded her of when he made the blitzball team at school. He always looked happy around blitzball, and it made her smile.

…:…

"Hello? Yes? What? No. Oh, hang on, Rikku wants to say hello," Yuna said, passing the phone over to Rikku.

"Hi? Leblanc? Hiya! Yeah we're fine. Yes, it's nice. No I don't think so. So how's the kid then? Oh Good. Can he? Well I don't think you should do that with him. No, well, maybe you should check with Nooj," Rikku's voice chirped from the phone. Leblanc sat in her little kitchen trying to feed her Baby Boy and waiting patiently (ish) for Nooj to come home. She managed to force another little spoonful of mushy peas into his rosy little mouth and smiled at him as he swallowed it up. "Good boy!" she cooed at the little baby.

"You what? Oh right. Oh yes, Auron seemed very upset that you wouldn't be returning next year. Mmm yes. Well he didn't say it but I'm sure he was hiding his pain. Why do you care? You've got someone! Yes. Alright. Bye then," Rikku sang and hung up.

"What did she say?" Tidus asked.

"She's teaching her baby to do tricks." Rikku replied. Tidus groaned.

"Just like her," he mumbled. The others all murmured an agreement. Gippal yawned suddenly, and ran a hand through his spiky hair. He stretched before saying, "I think I'll take a walk, get some fresh air and all that. Anyone want to come?" He looked over at Rikku, who stared blankly back at him. He tried giving her a more pointed look until she got it.

"Oh! I'll come if you want," she offered, already standing up. The others all smirked and exchanged glances as the couple walked out.

"Aaah," Tidus sighed, "young love!"

…:…

Rikku walked along with Gippal, watching the stars, hand in hand. She smiled as they stopped in a little garden, completely empty apart from them, and shivered slightly. Gippal put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. They sat down on a bench and watched the stars together.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" she said, dreamily.

"Yeah," Gippal whispered. She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes happily. She sighed and then opened them.

"Isn't it romantic, Tidus and Yuna's news?" she asked.

"Yeah, I suppose. I don't know, it's like a big thing isn't it. A big commitment. Bet you Tidus won't go through with it."

"How do you mean? It's years away. And of course he will! They're in love."

"Yeah but so are we and I don't want to get married to you." Gippal said. Rikku jerked back away from him, with a sharp intake of breath. She studied his face as he realised his mistake. She twitched away, like he'd just hit her. "Jesus, that came out wrong!" he spluttered. Rikku stood up shakily, and backed away from him, her eyes welling up. "Oh Rikku, that's not what I meant! Really! Rikku come on listen to me!" he shouted after her, but she was already running back into the hotel. He swore loudly and buried his face in his hands. He swore again, louder this time.

…:…

When Gippal walked back into his room he noticed two things;

Baralai was there and;

Baralai was laughing at him.

"What?" Gippal snapped.

"Of all the things to say, you just would say that wouldn't you?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Gippal protested.

"I know. Don't worry it was just a mistake. Talk to her tomorrow; tell her you love, kiss and make up. And don't leave out how much of an idiot you are. And if that doesn't work, try proposing, like Tidus did."

"Shut up Lai. I don't see you proposing to Paine!"

"Ah but then I didn't tell Paine I didn't want to marry her, did I?" Baralai reasoned.

"Yes ok, I get it! Where's Tidus?"

"Still with the girls. He couldn't bear to drag himself away from Yuna yet," Baralai told him. Gippal sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked over the room to his little bed and collapsed on it, looking out the window. He deliberately chose the bed next to the far wall for the window. He rolled over and stared at the bluey white walls, and miserably curled up underneath his thin bed sheets. Bevelle could get really hot around this time of year, so all the hotels put thin sheets on the beds. Gippal liked the weather being hot; it reminded him of old family holidays to Bikanel. But the weather couldn't cheer him up right now. He scowled over at Baralai, who was already tucked up in bed and reading. How could he be so calm? Didn't he care that Gippal and Rikku could about to become a thing of the past? Er, no, it didn't seem that he did, as he glanced over at Gippal and told him to stop sulking. Gippal made a face then grabbed his phone of the bedside table. He immediately began texting Rikku;

'_im so sorry Rix im an idiot. do u forgive me?? luv ya loads xxx'_

He typed it in, added a few more kisses for luck, and pressed 'send'. He noticed Baralai glancing irritably at him, annoyed at all the little beeps he was making while _some_ people were trying to read, but Gippal ignored him. He waited unhappily for a few minutes for a reply, but when none came he chucked his phone onto the floor, switched off the lamp by his bed and pulled the sheets over his head, trying to fall asleep. Baralai looked over at his friend, sighed for him, put down his book and turned off his light aswell.

…:…

Rikku hunched over on her bed sadly, whilst Yuna hugged her and Paine offered her as many crisps as she had. The were making sympathetic noises and agreeing about how evil what Gippal said had been, though when Yuna tried to point out that it _did_ sound like a mistake, well, it was not well received. Tidus was also joining in, trying to cheer up Rikku anyway he could.

"Look!" he cried, "Look what I just found under the sink in your bathroom! It's a funnel!" he finished triumphantly, producing it from behind his back. When it didn't get quite the reception he was expecting, he tried again.

"Er, well, think of all the great things you can do with this! I mean, look Rikku, you could… um… use it as a hat!" he yelled, demonstrating his point by balancing it upside down on his head. "See?" he yelped. Rikku looked at him sadly, and didn't even bother trying to smile.

"Erm, ok, it's not great as a hat, but look, look now!" he said, as he held it to his nose and tried again. "Guess who I am! I'm Pinocchio! See?" He looked at her hopefully. She twitched the corners of her mouth. Tidus decided to try one last time.

"Or, if you're not going to wear it, you could use it for… for… um…"

"Pouring water through?" Paine suggested sarcastically.

"No," Tidus snapped, "But you could use it to shove up Gippal's arse; that would show him." He added glaring at Paine. To his (and theirs) surprise, Rikku actually laughed a little at that. She smiled again at Tidus, but didn't look quite so sad this time. He grinned back at her and then bundled her and Yuna into a giant hug. They squealed in protest, and Paine swore as he dragged her in too.

"Ok ladies," he said, separating himself from them, "I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow!" he said, leaning down to give Yuna a kiss and Rikku another hug. He smiled across at Paine before leaving the room. Rikku sighed after he'd left and looked miserably at her friends.

"What do we do now?" she asked them. Yuna couldn't bear to see her cousin looking so sad.

"I know," she said, "Let's all sleep in the same bed tonight, just for a laugh," she suggested. Paine and Rikku looked at the single beds, and wondered just how two of them would fit together in them, let alone three. But Paine knew it would make Rikku laugh so she agreed, "Yeah, c'mon."

As they bundled into Yuna's bed, the one against a wall, as they thought this would be easier, Paine and Yuna started talking about anything they could think of, just to keep Rikku's mind off Gippal, when they heard a phone go. Yuna listened, but didn't recognise the noise.

"Not mine," she said.

"Mine neither," Paine added. Rikku sighed, leaned over Paine and grabbed her phone off of her bed.

"S'mine," she told them. "It's… oh… it's from Gippal."

"What does it say?" Yuna asked eagerly. _'Please cheer her up, please…'_

Rikku studied the message for a minute then finally tossed her phone back onto her bed. "It says he's sorry," she grumbled.

"That's good!" squeaked Yuna, a little too excitedly. She cleared her throat and added, "I mean, he's sorry, so you know, he wants to make up!"

"Does it say anything else?" asked Paine.

"Just that he's an idiot and that he loves me."

"Well there you go, he obviously didn't mean it!" Yuna cried beside her.

"But Yunie, he said it! He said flat out, he doesn't want to marry me! I mean, you know, why not? What's wrong with me?" Rikku whined. Paine tried to be reasonable about the situation.

"He probably meant that he just doesn't want to get married yet, or tie himself down to something that big. I mean, it's Gippal, he won't even be thinking about anything that big yet!" she told her.

"I don't know…" Rikku pouted and shuffled further under the covers. "Maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow, find out what he meant – if he's lucky!" she added. Yuna and Paine agreed, switched off the lights and balanced awkwardly together. Rikku, as the one in the middle and the only one actually fully on the bed, would be the only one of them to get any proper sleep, but then the others felt she deserved at least that much.

…:…

Breakfast the next morning was uncomfortable for all of them. Rikku stayed silent, eating her food slowly, and completely avoiding Gippal. Gippal ate nothing, just sat and stared at Rikku with puppy dog eyes. He was like a puppy in some ways, Yuna almost expected him to start whimpering. Paine, Baralai and Yuna herself talked politely with everyone, but were only saying as little as they needed, so their situation didn't get even more awkward. Tidus, on the other hand, was making as many jokes as possible and being as goofy as he could be in order to lighten everyone up. Yuna smiled at him for being such a dork. It was cheering her up at least. The room they were eating in wasn't great; it was all plastic and tacky looking, like an old McDonalds that hadn't been cleaned in a while. The group had opted for walking down to a little café for breakfast, and as Yuna scraped her knee against the hard plastic edging of the cramped table _again_, she was starting to regret their decision. Tidus eventually gave up trying to talk and their whole table went quiet as they waited for Rikku to finish her coffee and pancakes. Tidus took a permanent marker out of his pocket and started drawing all over their grimy table and seats. The pen squeaked across the plastic like nails on a blackboard, and only seemed to add to the tension. After another half an hour, Rikku drained her coffee cup, and the whole café let out a sigh of relief as they started leaving. They stepped out into the glaring sunshine, and Yuna quickly shielded her eyes as the rest of the group slipped on sunglasses. Reminding herself to buy some, Yuna trudged along with the others, lagging behind a bit with Baralai.

"Some parts of Bevelle have gotten so tacky, haven't they?" she asked him, indicating the amount of old gum clinging to the dirty strip they were now walking up. Baralai agreed with her.

"Yeah, around here definitely. But the main part of Bevelle is still lovely isn't it? We should go see the temples."

Paine and Tidus murmured in agreement, Gippal snorted in disgust, and Rikku said nothing at all. While the rest of them lumbered on, Yuna got busy with the map, trying to find the quickest way to the beach.

"Hang on," she cried, spotting a sign, "if you all want to, we can walk down to the beach a bit later, and do a bit of shopping now?" she suggested, pointing to a pretty glass building standing a little way away from them.

"What is it?" Paine asked her.

"The Bevelle High street Shopping Centre. It's meant to be really good. We could have a look round, and grab an ice cream. They're bound to do them in there!" she said confidently. She smiled round at the five very unsmiling faces at her, and faltered a little.

"Well, um, we don't have to," she said meekly. Tidus, not liking the idea of Yuna being upset, decided that they _would_ go do some shopping. He happily led the way in, grabbing Yuna's had and firmly holding on to it. As they were working their way through, Tidus stopped suddenly, causing Yuna to crash into him.

"Ow! What, what is it?" she asked.

"Look!" Tidus pointed across to a little wedding chapel, and the young couple going into it. "That'll be us in a few years," he murmured to her. "Except nicer of course," he added, wrinkling his nose up at the state of the 'bride' and 'groom', dressed in a white and black dirty tracksuit each. Yuna nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Do you think a tiara would be nice? Or tacky?"

"On you? Beautiful." Tidus said, smiling down at her. Rikku coughed loudly then at the happy couple, breaking their spell. The last thing Rikku wanted right now was watching her friends make out while she wasn't even _talking_ to her boyfriend. Yuna sighed, and led Tidus away to a fashion shop, pointing out a top she'd quite like. Paine and Baralai quickly went over to admire the music shop too. Baralai winked at Gippal over his shoulder, giving him the thumbs up for luck. Gippal nodded and swallowed.

"Er…" '_How should I start?' _"Look Rikku; I know yesterday I made a complete ar-"

"Whatever Gippal."

"No please, I didn't mean what I said. It came out wrong," he pleaded. Rikku rolled her eyes and quickly walked outside, where they wouldn't cause a scene. Once in private she turned back round to Gippal.

"'I don't want to marry you'. Wasn't that it? It's quite clear you know Gippal!" she snapped.

"I know but I just meant… well…"

"Well? What else can it mean Gippal?" she cried, and studied his face while she waited for him to give her an answer. When he didn't come up with one she started to turn back and walk inside.

'_I have to say something or I'll lose her!'_

"Er- wait! Rikku… Rikku I… Will you marry me?!" he cried desperately. His face dropped in horror as he realised what he just said. _'Damn you Baralai!!' _Rikku turned round slowly, and he replaced his look with a nervous smile. She took a deep breath and then let it out again.

"What? Did you… did you just ask me to marry you?" she cried in disbelief. Gippal nodded and smiled sheepishly at her. '_It's alright, she'll never say yes.'_

"Of course! Of course I'll marry you! Oh Gippal!" she cried, throwing her arms around him and jumping into him. Gippal felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, and all the blood drained from his face. He swore silently to himself.

"When shall we do it?" Rikku continued. "Oh Gippal I can't wait- let's do it tonight!"

"TONIGHT?!" Gippal screamed. "Well, uh… don't you think that's a bit… early?" he asked. "I mean… you don't have a dress! We don't have a place!" he added, seeing her face.

"It's ok; I have a white summer dress! And you can just wear a nice shirt! We can do it at that little chapel we saw! Oh Gippal I'm so happy! I love you so much!" she cried, smothering his face in kisses. Gippal felt like he was going to be sick.

"Let's do it! Unless… you can think of a reason not to?" Rikku said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him. Gippal licked his lips. Suddenly his mouth had gone quite dry. He opened his mouth wide.

"…No… no reason why…" he stammered. Suddenly he felt as miserable as before.

'_BuggerfuckbollockscuntshitaresholeCOMPLETEprickyoushitheadwhatthefuckwereyouthinkingbastardson-of-a-bitchcan'tbelievethisfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!'_

…:…

**Haha poor Gippal. How great! Welly welly well. What will happen? Will they get married? While Gippal refuse? Would Rikku ever forgive him?! Find out next time on… I-can't-actually-remember-what-this-story-is-called! Hope you enjoyed it my lovelies. **

**I love you all!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	13. The one with the heatwave

**Look at this! An update! An update! Blimey. Well, thank yooou to all you lovely people who read my last chapter, and a slightly bigger thank you to those who reviewed. Face it, we love reviews. We do. Isn't it marvy? Did I have two chapters the same in this story? Well I deleted one anyway.**

**Don't you love it when people say, 'Gippal winked'. It's like, the guy has one eye. How can you tell?**

…:…

Gippal tried to swallow again, but found that he just couldn't quite do it. He felt so sick, he thought he might actually faint. He wouldn't mind fainting actually; it would give him some time to postpone the inevitable. He stumbled into the shopping centre again, making his way over to the little chapel, where he'd arranged to meet Rikku. His palms were slick with sweat, no matter how many times he wiped them on his jeans. He tugged at the collar of his shirt, and quickly spotted Rikku waiting for him. His stomach lurched as she spun round to meet him. She looked nice, but Gippal was too busy trying to remember to breathe to think about that. He looked down at her and gave her a lopsided smile. She grinned back at him.

They hadn't told their friends what they were doing; Rikku said it should be 'a surprise'. She reached up and took his hands in hers. She smiled up at him and asked, "Ready?"

…:…

Paine and Yuna sat on the sun loungers by the pool, Paine reading a book and Yuna watching Tidus and Baralai splash about in the water. It was another warm evening, and the four of them had headed out to relax and cool down. But Paine was finding it hard to concentrate on her book with Yuna stopping her every five minutes to check on her tan. Yuna flicked lazily at her skin, brushing away a nearby fly. She shielded her eyes from the sun and glanced back up at Tidus. She smiled at the two boys messing around, and nudged Paine.

"Look," she told her, "Any minute now, that old lady's going to start hitting them. See how worked up she's getting?"

Paine lowered her book and looked across at the murderous grandmother giving the boys evil eyes. She raised her eyebrows. "What have they done?" she asked Yuna. Yuna smiled and pointed at Tidus.

"Every time he does a back flip, she gets soaked with water. And every time he," she said, pointing at Baralai, "Throws the ball to Tidus, he misses and hits her. To be honest, I can see her point," she added, as the woman unleashed a torrent of abuse on the other two. Paine smirked beside her and put her book down on the floor.

"Hey, have you seen Rikku?" she asked softly.

"No, not for a while actually. Hey Paine, look, do you think my arm looks tanned?" she asked, holding her arm out for Paine to see. Paine studied it before shrugging helplessly at Yuna. Yuna's face fell and she held her bikini straps up to see if there was any difference in her skin tone.

"I was so sure I was getting strap marks!" she said angrily. Paine smiled to herself. She yawned then stretched.

"I think I might go inside," she said, "just for a little while- oh!" Paine gasped, as the lady that had been yelling at Baralai and Tidus fell in the water. Yuna looked, and giggled as Tidus swam under to rescue her, and she started hitting him as he dragged her up. Yuna looked fondly at them, before agreeing with Paine. "Yeah, why don't we?"

…:…

Gippal glanced over at the chapel that stood before them. He cleared his throat and felt his body start shaking. _'I think I'm actually going to cry!' _

He looked back at Rikku and opened his mouth. All that came out was a strangled noise, and he stopped, swallowed and took a deep breath. _'Say no. Tell her no! PLEASE, TELL HER NO!' _He opened his mouth again, and looked her straight in the eyes.

…:…

"Jeez!" grumbled Tidus. "You try and do a nice thing for someone, and that's how they repay you! I mean honestly, who would do that?" he cried, rubbing his bruised face.

"I agree, hitting you _was_ a bit much, but I can see why she did it." Baralai said cheerfully, enjoying his friend's pain.

"Can you? I can't!" Tidus moaned. He looked sorrowfully at his friend. Baralai made a face and pushed his hand against Tidus' forehead, making him stumble back.

"Stop pouting. You look like Rikku."

"Good!" Tidus cried out childishly. He frowned then. "Did Gippal and Rikku make up?" he asked. Baralai paused.

"I don't know…" he said thoughtfully. Tidus shrugged.

"Well, whatever. Ooh, wanna play on the pinball machine?" he asked happily. Baralai nodded. As they walked over Baralai noticed Paine and Yuna sitting at the bar in the lounge. It was darker inside, and his eyes took their time adjusting to the light. The lounge was full of deep red sofas, mahogany chairs and stools, not to mention other people buzzing and milling around. Baralai felt a little fazed by the amount of people you get crowded in Bevelle. Besaid was much quieter. Tidus however seemed completely at home as he rushed over, not even noticing the girls. Baralai rolled his eyes at his friend, and told Tidus he was going to grab them some drinks. He walked over to Yuna and Paine, and rested his hand on Paine's back, smiling at her as she turned gracefully round. She smiled gently back, and Yuna gave him a little wave.

"What do you want, Lai?" Yuna asked.

"Two cokes, please. We're just over there," he said, pointing over to where Tidus was roaring in victory at the poor man he'd just beaten. He laughed softly as Yuna ordered the drinks for them. Paine surveyed the vintage movie posters framed around the lounge. They were sat nearest the one advertising the classic film; 'Breakfast at Bevelle', starring Yunalesca. She smiled slightly, and took a long sip of her lemonade. She glanced down at her watch. 19.15. She had last seen Rikku at 16.35. Where could she be?

"Baralai, when did you last see Gippal?" she asked. Baralai turned back to her and frowned.

"Hmm… well, about an hour ago I suppose. He was doing his hair in our room. As usual." Yuna spun round when she heard.

"Gippal's hair isn't natural?" she cried. Baralai looked at her strangely.

"Yuna… I hate to break it to you, but… well; Gippal uses enough gel on his hair to keep the whole industry running! I'm sorry," he added, seeing her disappointment. Yuna shook her head.

"It's alright… I just always thought…"

"I know," Paine said, nodding. "We all did."

…:…

Tidus laughed happily as he won yet again against his opponent. He turned around to him and shook his hand.

"Good game, my friend," he said. He left the machine behind and wandered over to his friends.

"Hey, you didn't play Lai!" he said accusingly.

"Sorry," Baralai told him, before glancing back at Yuna. Tidus, noticing her stricken expression, asked. "Hey… you ok?"

"She will be," Baralai said, before tugging on his friends arm and leading him away.

"Have you noticed that Rikku and Gippal have been missing a while?" he asked.

"Hmm…" Tidus said. He looked back at Baralai and shrugged. "I suppose so. You don't think she's finally killed him, do you?" Baralai thought about this for a minute.

"No…" he answered eventually. "No, she'd have been back by now, telling Yuna and Paine all about how she did it. Maybe they got back together again," Baralai suggested. Tidus grinned dirtily.

"Ah, I see what you're saying," he said, nudging Baralai.

"No, you really don't." Baralai sighed. Paine and Yuna stood up and walked over to them.

"Yuna just tried to ring Rikku; no answer." Paine informed them. Tidus clocked Yuna's worried expression.

"Well," he said, acting as the leader of the group, "I think Gippal and Rikku will most likely be together. Split up and look for them?" he asked. The other three stared at him. Paine shook her head in wonder. Never did she think she'd see the day; Tidus being sensible. After recovering, Baralai agreed with him, and they decided the two of them would search around the strip while the girls searched the hotel, then if they didn't find anything, head over to the shopping centre to look together there.

…:…

Tidus pushed his face up against another dirty window, smearing his mouth all over it. Baralai grimaced in disgust. Tidus wrenched his face off the glass and turned back to Baralai.

"Not in that one," he said, gesturing to the greasy café they had eaten in for breakfast. Baralai sighed and scuffed his shoe against the floor. He looked up and squinted against the setting sun at the strip, looking out for any signs of blond, spiky hair. Tidus shook his head and looked in the other direction, for any petite, mad blondes dashing around; possibly with an axe. They looked back at each other and Tidus shrugged. He took his phone out and rang Paine.

"See if the girls had better luck," he told Baralai.

…:…

Yuna checked again in their room, even under the beds and in the bathroom.

"There not in here…"

"Weren't in the boys' room…"

"Or the lounge," Yuna added. "Or the pool, corridors, restaurant…"

"Basically," Paine interrupted, "they're not in the hotel." She sighed and glanced back in their room. She was going to murder those two when the found them. Yuna blew her fringe out of her face and leaned against the wall.

"Shopping centre?" she asked. Paine started to nod when he phone started ringing. She reached into her pocket and answered it. After a few seconds she snapped it shut and looked back at Yuna.

"Shopping centre," she confirmed.

…:…

"Yes, Gippal?" Rikku asked him. She was starting to get a bit worried about him, he was looking quite ill. Gippal closed and opened his mouth a few more times, making Rikku giggle. He looked just like a goldfish.

"Yes?" she prompted. Gippal stared helplessly at her and shrugged weakly.

"Are you ready?" she asked again, tilting her head in the direction of the chapel. Gippal looked at it, then back at her. He opened his mouth one last time.

"… Yes…" he squeaked in defeat. Rikku stared hard at him for a few seconds, before smirking, which eventually turned into full blown laughter. Gippal stared incredulously at her. Was she insane? _'Should I get help?' _Rikku stopped laughing as quickly as she'd started. _'Did I say that out loud?! Did she hear me?'_ he thought. Rikku smiled and shook her head at him.

"Oh, Gippal," she said, before laughing a little again, "I can't believe you were about to marry me. Do you really think I want to get married now?!" she asked. Gippal felt all the blood come back into his face, and suddenly the world seemed a better place. He smiled at her, relieved. Then stopped in case it was a trick. He regarded her cautiously.

"You don't?" he asked, making sure.

"Of course not! I just wanted to see if you would've gone through with it. I guess you really do love me, huh?" she asked, smirking at him. He looked hard at her, before breaking into a relieved grin. He shook his head and wrapped her in a bear hug.

"Oh thank you for not making me marry you! Thank you! Thank you!" he cried, overcome with happiness.

"Ok, alright, don't over do it. Jeez Gippal, this is how you got into this mess in the first place- are you crying?" she asked in wonder.

"Tears of joy, Rix. Tears of joy." Rikku shook her head at him again, and smiled up at him. Gippal grinned back; he was so relieved it was just a trick. He was too happy to even be annoyed.

"Tell me you like my dress," she instructed him. Gippal looked at her properly. She had a cute, plain white mini dress on. It made her look incredibly tanned. He started to get a sneaking suspicion that she did this whole thing just to be able to wear it. Still, he smiled at her and told her, "It's lovely." She smiled back and wrapped her arms around his waist, as he kissed the top of her head.

"There they are!" they heard a voice shout, and looked over to see Tidus barrelling over to them at top speed.

"Losers!" he cried out, "We've been looking for you! Why didn't you answer your phones? Why didn't you tell us where you were going? Did you make up? Oh, _finally!_" he said, glaring at them.

"Sorry Tidus!" Rikku said, untangling herself from Gippal to give him a hug. Tidus stopped being angry and smiled happily at her.

"C'mon, me and the others want to go find a nice place to eat!" he said, letting Rikku slip forwards to join the girls. Baralai joined them, and they both gave Gippal a strange look.

"Hey, what were you _doing_ anyway?" Tidus asked him.

"Don't ask, Tidus. It's still too painful to talk about." Gippal told them, as they exchanged looks. Baralai mouthed, _just don't ask_ at Tidus. Tidus nodded and they left the air conditioned mall to be hit with the hot and heavy air. Tidus' stomach rumbled, and he looked excitedly about, eager for food.

"We passed a nice looking Al Bhed place on the way over," he said loudly. "I want to eat there!"

"We could, or there's a nice, old little restaurant that's only about twenty minutes away," Baralai suggested.

"But that's ages!" Tidus whined. Baralai rolled his eyes. Rikku stopped suddenly and swung round to Tidus.

"Just for that we're going to the far away one!" she scolded, waving her finger in front of his face. Yuna smiled and pushed her fringe back off her face. She was enjoying this holiday way too much for it to end. She hummed and linked arms with Paine, who awkwardly did so back. Yuna glanced behind them and saw Rikku had also linked arms with Gippal and Tidus, who was dragging Baralai into it too. The six of them ambled along, five of them completely ignoring Tidus' whingeing.

…:…

Yuna forked a mouthful of spicy spaghetti down her throat and subtly transferred a large tomato from her plate to Rikku's. Rikku stabbed at it with her fork and shoved it in her mouth, without even looking to see what it was. A week had gone by and they were on their last night here. They had all packed up their suitcases and were ready to load them into the car early in the morning. It was time to move on, and for the next two weeks they would be spending their time in Zanarkand. They finished up their meal, settled the bill and wondered back to their hotel.

"Bye hotel lobby," Rikku said sadly. "Bye hotel reception. Bye hotel restaurant. Bye hotel pool. Bye hotel elevator, and goodbye hotel corridors." Rikku ran her hand affectionately on the walls as the girls walked back to their room. She opened her mouth again but was cut off bye Paine.

"Rikku I swear, shut your mouth now and don't open it until tomorrow. Alright?"

"Ok…" Rikku sighed. Yuna idly twiddled a strand of hair round her finger and stood looking wonderingly around her as Paine unlocked their door. They trudged in and Yuna flopped down onto her bed, picked up a magazine she had left on the floor and started leafing through it, not bothering to read anything. She felt too fed up to concentrate, and the evening air was sticky and bearing down on them. She chucked the magazine back down and just spread out on her bed instead. Paine crossed the room and opened all the windows she could, while Rikku switched the air conditioning onto full. Paine leant out of a window and sucked in a lungful of clammy, warm air. She backed away in disgust and sat underneath the window instead.

"I need to get out of this room!" Rikku whined.

"We just got into the room," Yuna pointed out, still looking up at the ceiling. She wondered whether it would be cooler underneath her bed.

"But I can't stand it," she replied, her lower lip jutting out and her eyes taking on just the right amount of teary-ness. Yuna, who couldn't see this, was immune to their power, so she happily ignored Rikku and flexed her arms out in front of her.

"C'mon you guys, please? I'm dying here!" she added. Yuna started to count the freckles on her arm.

"It's just too much," Rikku tried one last time, her voice catching. Paine sighed and pushed herself up.

"It would give the air-conditioning a chance to cool our room down. Maybe we should go out," she said reasonably.

"Where?" Yuna asked, still not convinced enough to sit up.

"Let's go into town! Go to a club or a bar or something!" Rikku chirped, happy to have been noticed at last.

"We're not old enough to drink," Yuna put in again.

"Doesn't matter if we can find someone to buy them for us. And no one cares enough to check in a busy club!"

"For once, she's right. And I can't listen to another minute of her anyway. I'll come out. Yuna?" Paine turned to her. Yuna lay there for a second, contemplating her options. Go out, have fun, cool off. Stay here and hope to pass out at some point. A mosquito flew in through the open window and hovered above her, humming just above her nose. She watched the heat weave around its wings. She closed her eyes for a second, and breathed out deeply. She heaved herself into a sitting position and swung her legs down onto the floor.

"I'll come," she said.

"Peer pressure, works every time," Rikku smirked to Paine.

…:…

"I'm sweaty!" Rikku yelled into Yuna's ear, wrapping a sticky arm round her neck.

"What?" Yuna screamed, straining to hear above the pounding music. The beats vibrated up her legs, through her body. The music had a funky vibe, and Yuna's hips were swaying in time all by themselves.

"I'm HOT!" Rikku shrieked.

"I'll say," a passing man commented. They went into hysterics, clinging to each for support. Yuna tried to untangle herself and carry on dancing, but the club was packed with people, and they sandwiched her in and blocked her movements. Rikku managed to escape by ducking down and re-appearing again to Yuna's left. She linked her moist fingers with Yuna's and stuck her elbows out, forcing a path through to the bar. Yuna got dragged behind her, dodging and darting out of people's way, narrowly missing getting hit in the face a few times. The flung themselves out of the crowd and onto two free bar stools, and Yuna climbed gratefully up onto it. She bent down and leant her forehead on the cool metal counter. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears, keeping time with the music. She could feel her cheeks on fire, and sweat prickling on her face. She lifted her head and put a hand to her cheek. It was like two infernos on the side of her nose. Rikku vaulted up onto the stool next to her and whipped out a makeup bag from her clutch. She tipped out a mirror and set it up, then got out six different pots and proceeded to remove the shine from her nose, powder her face into perfect matt condition, redo her eyeshadow and eyeliner, apply blusher and finally put on a layer of lipstick followed by lip-gloss. Yuna watched, stunned, as the whole ritual was over and done in two minutes flat. Rikku tipped the whole lot back in and shoved it into her impossibly tiny bag, easily.

"Where's Paine?" Rikku asked, swivelling round to Yuna and catching her off guard, as she was still trying to work out just how she had done it. Confused, she shook her head and shrugged. Rikku stretched her neck and peered about, and Yuna giggled at her.

"You look like a meerkat," she told her. Rikku was just about to feel insulted when she spotted Paine in the crowd nearby, swaying peacefully with the crowd.

"Dr P!" she screeched. Paine's eyes snapped open and found Rikku immediately. Unnerved by Paine's stare, Rikku shrunk back slightly. Paine walked over to them, slipping through the crowd like water.

"What's up?" she asked them, swirling her crimson eyes to Yuna. Yuna was getting irritable again, the heat made everything more intense, and she wasn't enjoying it. She gestured that she was thirsty, not bothering to try and compete with the noise anymore.

"And hot," Rikku added, her voice getting drowned out slightly.

"Let's go outside," Paine said, leaning in to them so she could be heard. They nodded, and Yuna slid off the stool, the plastic sticking to her thighs and ripping back painfully. She smoothed the hem of her dress down and followed Paine, who had somehow trickled her way through wall of bodies, heaving and thrusting from all directions. She stuck close, with Rikku tucked in neatly behind her, and they came out the other side in a matter of seconds. Paine pushed open the heavy door and they stumbled out into the burning night. The humidity wrapped itself around them like a blanket, stifling them. Paine yawned and looked at her watch. It was 1 o'clock in the morning already, and they had to be up early. She conveyed this back to the others, and they agreed to go back to the hotel.

"But I'm going late night swimming first," Rikku said forcefully.

"No skinny dipping," Yuna scolded, though privately she was agreeing to swimming, they needed to cool off.

"Let's go," Paine monotoned, turning and walking up the strip in the direction of their hotel. Yuna and Rikku trudged after her. They stopped off at an all-night petrol station, buying three bottles of chilled water. Yuna squinted against the harsh strips of lighting as she dropped her money onto the plastic counter. She twisted the lid off and tipped the water down her throat. It was refreshing, and it felt damn good against the dry heat in the shop.

"Air-conditioning broke last night," the man behind the till had informed them. Rikku flicked through a magazine, the glaring light reflecting off the glossy pages. Paine watched the till guy watching Yuna, and wondered if she could use his obvious interest to their advantage, and bag themselves a few free snacks. And possibly those aviator sunglasses hanging up on the counter, next to the rapidly melting chocolate bars. She'd already tried them on thought they'd quite suited her. She coyly slunk her arm around Yuna's waist and held up the sunglasses.

"Can I have these?" she asked, innocently.

"Take 'em," he said, trying desperately to catch Yuna's eye.

"Thanks," Paine said, and steered her friends out of the shop and back into the night. Yuna flicked a few drops of her water onto her face. Rikku looked over at Paine, who was wearing her freebie in victory. She strode ahead, eager to jump into the swimming pool.

…:…

Yuna peeled her clinging dress of her skin, threw it down onto the floor and dipped her toes into the water. It was freezing. Lovely. Stripped down to her bra and pants, she sunk into the pool and submerged her head completely. She stayed there for a few seconds, cold water swishing round her. She slowly came back up to the surface to see Paine floating on her back, and Rikku about to splash her. Yuna kicked herself back down to the bottom and looked up at the surface. Water flooded her nose and the chlorine stung her eyes, but only a little. She opened her mouth and exhaled, watching the bubbles float up. Rikku suddenly loomed into her vision. Yuna jumped and a stream of bubbles escaped from her mouth. She broke up to the surface again, sucking in a lungful of air and water. She spluttered while Paine ignored her and Rikku laughed at her.

"Not funny," Yuna pouted. They swam around for a while longer, before they climbed out of the pool and stood dripping on the edge. They pulled on their clothes again, and the wet material stuck to them. They walked back into the lobby and pressed the button for the elevator. Yuna shifted her toes through the soft carpet as they waited. The lift came down and the doors opened. Rikku said a final goodbye to the pool and they stepped into the elevator to take them to their rooms.

…:…

"C'mon girls, rise and shine!" Gippal's voice came floating through the door, and his fists pounded on the wood. Rikku opened first one eye, then the other. Her hair was sticking to her face, and she pushed her hand over her sweaty forehead.

"Dammit," she hissed, "it's even hotter than yesterday!" She rolled over onto her back, and looked across at Yuna and Paine. Paine was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, sat up in bed, while Yuna had her face buried in the soft pillows. Rikku swung her legs onto the floor. She shook her head slowly, and the smell of chlorine hit her. She swore quietly, remembering how she'd neglected to wash off the swimming pool water last night. She fingered her hair anxiously. It was dry and crispy. She slid her eyes over to Paine, who was just feeling her own hair. In a split second Rikku had shot across the room and was slamming and locking the bathroom door. Paine threw herself against it as Rikku was stepping into the shower and sluicing off sweat and chlorine. She had been beaten. Paine walked over to her bed again and glanced over at Yuna, who was smirking.

"Should've washed it last night. I told you to!" Yuna said with smug glee, having hopped straight into the shower on their return to the room. Paine tutted and looked at the clock.

"C'mon Rikku!" she roared. She would have less than 5 minutes to wash. But Rikku's voice could be heard through the downpour of water, singing and carefree. Paine fidgeted for a moment, before decidedly grabbing one of last nights half full waters, and ripping open the window. She stuck her head and improvised a shower. Water and the smell of chlorine smacked the pavement below, soaking several very un-amused hotel guests. Rikku sauntered out at this moment, cheerful and with a healthy, just washed glow. Paine glowered at her as the boys started hammering on the door.

…:…

"That's the last one," Tidus said, lifting Rikku's suitcase into the car boot, and slamming it down. He climbed into the back of the car and nodded at Paine, who started up the engine.

"Ok, it's a ten hour drive to Zanarkand, so I suggest four of us drive for two hours each, and the last two drives for one hour. I think Rikku and Gippal should drive for one hour each, because Gippal's an idiot and Rikku gets bored easily. Ok?" Baralai said, to the agreement of all except Gippal, who instantly became offended and started sulking, his bottom lip jutting out, until Tidus told him he looked like a girl when he pouted. Paine rolled her eyes and pulled away, as Yuna rolled the window down and put her head out, squinting her eyes up against the wind. Baralai flicked through the car CD's as they drove onto the main road, and towards the city that never sleeps.

…:…

**Drink it up. Drink it up like lemonade on a summer's day. And a review wouldn't go amiss either.**


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